07 May 2009
Posted in Illustrations

The Upas tree grows in Indonesia, secretes poison and grows so thick it kills all forms of vegetation around it. The Upas's very existence results in sheltering, shading, poisoning, and destroying its surroundings.
Unfortunately, there are people who possess the same qualities and lifestyle. They dominate, criticize, and overwhelm others while wanting attention, credit, and homage paid to them. These people have no interest in sharing themselves. They have simply not learned to love or be loved.
Several years ago a story appeared in The Gospel Banner that provided a clear example of an "upas person."
A fashionably dressed young woman, sightseeing in a New York City slum, shuddered over a dirty, unkempt ragamuffin playing in the filth of the gutter. "Just look at that child!" she cried. "Why doesn't someone clean him up? Where is his mother?"
"Well, it's this way, Miss," explained her guide. "The child's mother loves her child, but she doesn't hate the dirt. You hate the dirt but you don't love the child. Until love for the child and hate for the dirt get into the same heart, the poor child remains just about as he is."
It's important to consider carefully the words of the French orientalist Caussin de Perceval, "Never to judge rashly; never to interpret the actions of others in ill sense, but to compassionate their infirmities, bear their burdens, excuse their weaknesses, and make up for their defects - to hate their imperfections, but love themselves, this is the true spirit of charity."

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