How God Changes People--The Cay

During the past few weeks my 6th grade language arts class has been reading The Cay. It is a wonderful story and I highly recommend it. The setting is the Caribbean, during World War 2. Phillip is an eleven year old boy, whose mom is frightened after German U-boats attack the oil center of Curacao, off the coast of Venezuela. She wants to take him back to Virginia, for safety. They get on a boat bound for Miami, but it is sunk by a torpedo and Phillip ends up on a raft with Timothy, an old black West Indian man. Phillip’s mom was prejudiced and it comes out in Phillip as he interacts with Timothy. Oh yeah, Phillip was injured as he fell from the ship. He hit his head and on the second day on the raft went blind. Timothy and Phillip are stuck with each other. Phillip is an emerging racist. Timothy keeps focused on the work they have to do—what work? “Just keep alive, young bahss.” Eventually they come to a cay, a small low island, with a few palms and no people who will help them. As Timothy sets up camp, they make plans for rescue. Timothy makes a signal fire that they can light if they hear or see an airplane. After a few days on the island they gather sea-grape vines so that Timothy can make a rope for Phillip to get down to the fire if he hears a plane when Timothy isn’t there Then Timothy tells Phillip that he (Phillip) will have to begin to share in the work. Now Phillip is an eleven year old. He is blind. He doesn’t know if his mom got in a life boat or not. Life is not easy. And he thinks—“I can’t work, I’m blind”. Timothy announces that Phillip will be weaving the sleeping mats from palm branches. Phillip complains. Blind kids can’t work. Timothy assures Phillip that it is not hard, just over and under. In fact one of the best mat makers in the islands is blind. Finally, Timothy places some palm fronds in Phillip’s lap. “Here young bahss, it’s easy. Just over and under…” Phillip tries but it doesn’t work so well. He gives up. Timothy tries to help him by reaching his hands in and directly Phillip. “Just over and under…” At this point, Phillip loses it. Listen as Phillip tells it. I tried again, but it didn’t work. I stood up and threw the palm fibers at him, and screamed, “You stupid ugly black man! I won’t do it! You’re stupid, you can’t even spell…” Timothy’s heavy hand struck my face sharply. Stunned, I touched my face where he’d hit me. Then I turned away from where I thought he was. My cheek stung, but I wouldn’t let him see me with tears in my eyes. I heard him saying very gently, “B’getting’ back to wark, my own self.” I sat down again. He began to sing that ‘fungee and fish’ song in a low voice, and I could picture him sitting on the sand in front of the hut; that tangled gray hair, the ugly black face with the thick lips, those great horny hands, winding the strands of vine. The rope, I thought. It wasn’t for him. It was for me. After a while, I said, “Timothy…” He did not answer, but walked over to me, pressing more palm fronds into my hands. He murmured, “’Tis veree easy, ovah an’ under…” Then he went back to singing about fungee and fish. Something happened to me that day on the cay. I’m not quite sure what it is even now, but I had begun to change. I said to Timothy, “I want to be your friend.” He said softly, “Young bahss, you ‘ave always been my friend.” I said, “Can you call me Phillip instead of young boss? “Philleep,” he said warmly. I asked my sixth graders what happened. They said he got smacked! I asked them what they thought about it. Most thought Timothy was justified. One said, “Why didn’t he do it sooner?” I asked them what changed in Phillip. They said, he started to quit being racist. I asked why did he change. And few could answer. Some thought it was because he got some sense knocked into him. One said that he was probably afraid that he’d get beat if he kept it up. I pointed out the reality of change. He is no longer ‘young bahss’ but now Philleep. In the Bible a name change is significant. It means God is at work. But what happened here? A couple wrote down, ‘it’s something about the rope.’ And then I told them my story. Here’s what I told them. Phillip was taken aback when Timothy slapped him. At first he merely licked his wounds. And maybe nursed his grudge. But Timothy just kept on working. And all of a sudden Phillip realized what Timothy was working on. The rope. And it wasn’t for Timothy it was for Phillip. What Timothy was really doing was loving Phillip. And it was love that touched Phillip’s heart. No wonder he didn’t understand it then and maybe wouldn’t for a long time. Love is powerful. Love changes people. It doesn't call attention to itself so sometimes it is hard to see. Regardless of what my young student said, beatings do not change a person on the inside. It takes love to do that. And we who know the God who delights in our name, who has a name for us written on a white stone in heaven, who changes us from the inside out, wonder at the love that changes us. If you have stories that remind you of the love of God that changes us, please share them. I'd love to hear them.