Pull up a chair, it's story time.
George R. Price was born in October of 1922, grew up through the Great Depression, and emerged a strong atheist. He is known as a "population geneticist," but comes out on the top of the over-achiever list; he worked as a chemist on the atom bomb, solved problems in transistor research, researched oncology treatments, and invented computer-aided design. In the process of bouncing through major scientific achievements in history, George married, but then left his family when his children were still very young.
While he was on track for at least a few nobel prizes, George eventually settled on a question that seems strange for a scientist - Why family?. His question (ironically enough,)was focused on the evolutionary origin of the human family (how does it persist?), but this eventually led him to the a question that would dramatically shift the rest of his life - Why does anybody help anybody? Essentially the question of goodness...kindness...altruism.
As a scientist that believed in Darwin's evolution, altruism seemed to be the elephant in the room that everyone was trying to ignore. So, like any reasonable person, he wrote a mathematical representation for the trait of altruism (now called the Price Equation).
[Price's theory] holds that the farther genetically removed two organisms are from each other the less likely they are to show altruism to each other. If true, then altruistic(kind) behavior is not truly selfless and is instead an adaptation that organisms have in order to promote their own genetic heritage.
He figured that if goodness could be formulated biologically and mathematically, then trait itself is never really altruistic...and there is no true selflessness.
But his science became the very thing he could not accept - a world devoid of genuine genuineness. In a 180 degree change, he flung himself into a quest of radical altruism - going to the streets of London and giving any physical or monetary help he could to the homeless, alcoholics, derelicts, and down-and-outs.
He gave up everything to help the poor, but many of them stole from him, leaving him essentially destitute himself.
Just after Christmas of 1975, George was found after he cut his carotid artery with a pair of scissors.
George died, despondent, because he felt been unable to go on helping the homeless.
I wonder what George's last thoughts were - did he think through his scientific achievements, did he think of his two daughters, or did he die haunted by his own lingering question - why does anybody help anybody?
Back in February, I told you a story about Sofia - a Hope Alive! student I had grown particularly close to...a 16-old year girl who is now a womanly mother of 2 children. Though Sofia had been given the grace for a new start after breaking our rules with her first pregnancy, she chose to not only willfully disobey again, but to do it while lying with a smile to our faces.
While I was in Gulu this last March, I didn't know why, but I couldn't shake a very deep feeling that I needed to find Sofia in her village to visit her and her new baby. She had left Kampala for the holidays before we even knew she was pregnant and hadn't seen her since.
So roommate Kate and I squished together on the back of a boda (motorcycle taxi) for what we thought would be a quick ride...and ended up being over a 40 minute ride down dusty bumpy roads to the village in the middle of...nowhere.
We were welcomed warmly into one of their huts - a circular construction of mud bricks and a grass-thatched roof - and eventually left alone with Sofia and her baby.
So there I was - suddenly holding little baby Auma Praise (a name that symbolically has the meaning of one falling on her face). Little fingers curled around one of mine, eyes closed peacefully in fierce sleep that couldn't be bothered by noise or strangers.
Sofia was sitting next to me, but what do you say in this situation, something that is not only socially but culturally appropriate?
But deep down, I think I knew why I needed to come, to see Sofia and her baby girl. I needed to tell Sofia that I forgave her. Forgave her for deceiving me, for treating my trust and friendship like something limp and dirty, for not making the good choices I know she is capable of.
So, as simply as I could I told her that; that she hurt me, but I forgave her and I still love her. But that I forgave her because God did the same thing for me and for all of us.
Like most Acholi women, Sofia is strong and usually only puts on the face of stoic happiness. As we talked though, Sofia's head went lower and lower, her hands covering her eyes to hide quiet tears.
I feel like this is a theme God wants me to learn and re-learn and learn again...the lesson that true loving hurts. In this case, the very humbling truth that loving will often mean forgiving before someone even asks for it.
Given the fact that we have family, and friends, and roommates, and colleagues, and employees, we have limitless opportunities for practicing. And given the fact that I usually fail miserably or maybe just achieve love minor-ly, it should come as no shock that I recently had an epiphany - love does not happen by accident or by mistake, it is intentional - every minute, every word, every action.
I like these song lyrics::
love hangs on invisible stringsso roll up your sleevesthis could take some time
The bible sums it up like this::
Christ arrives right on time to make this happen. He didn't, and doesn't, wait for us to get ready. He presented himself for this sacrificial death when we were far too weak and rebellious to do anything to get ourselves ready. And even if we hadn't been so weak, we wouldn't have known what to do anyway. We can understand someone dying for a person worth dying for, and we can understand how someone good and noble could inspire us to selfless sacrifice. But God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to him.
In 1970, it is said that our Mr. Price had a religious experience and became quite a New Testament scholar. I wonder what he found there? Did he read about how God loves His enemies and forgives those who are useless compared to His greatness? I wonder if Mr. Price gave up on life because he realized that true goodness takes too much concentrated effort for it to merely be a evolutionary adaptation? Was he disappointed that he did not possess the altruistic trait that would allow him to go on helping the poor or was he only disappointed that he failed to be a present love in the life of his own children? I wish I could ask him these questions myself.
May you, as you become aware of your own insufficiency in living and loving, turn and lean on our God of continual and enduring goodness (ps.52.1).
References
al·tru·ism/ˈaltro͞oˌizəm/Noun
1. The belief in or practice of disinterested and selfless concern for the well-being of others.
2. Behavior of an animal that benefits another at its own expense.
-www.radiolab.org (podcast "The Good Show")
-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_R._Price
-"The Price of Altruism" by Oren Harman
-Scripture verses taken from Romans 5:6-8
-Song lyrics taken from "Green Screens" by Sleeping at Last