Do you know this man? You should!
By Bill Fox/Columnist
There are not many people with a greater understanding of our society than Jean Vanier. Do you know of Jean Vanier? His father, Georges Vanier, was a Canadian army general and diplomat who later became the first French-Canadian governor general. His mother, Pauline, was a humanitarian who gave her wealth to help Jean, who was drawn to the plight of institutionalized people. His goal was to integrate the mentally challenged into regular communities.
In 1964, he invited two mentally challenged men to live with him in his home in Trosly Breuil, just north of Paris. This was the beginning of the L’Arche Communities, where the disabled and caregivers live together. There are now more than 100 worldwide, with two in the GTA.
Vanier would tell you that relationships with disabled people are genuine because they are people with no position of power or hidden agendas.
“The problem is that most people disappear behind titles or their shortcomings. At L’Arche, you are who you are, and you reveal yourself as who you are”.
More than 50 years since he started L’Arche, he says the world has changed in some ways for the better so that slavery and apartheid are no longer accepted, and disabled people are no longer seen as lesser humans who need to be concealed in institutions. However, as Vanier recently pointed out, our world is at a crisis point today.
In a talk more than 40 years ago in Scarborough, Vanier addressed some of his concerns about a changing world. At that time, he expressed concern about three areas in our society:
– The world of possessions: “We have to try to understand the change that is developing concerning property and the sharing of riches.” Elizabeth May, leader of the Green Party, addressed this in the recent leaders’ debate. “The 86 wealthiest families in this country have the same combined wealth as the 11.4 million Canadians at the bottom, and we have to address this.” How did we ever let ourselves get this far? We are all so caught up in our possessions. Some of us will remember homes with living rooms that were lived in, one TV, and only one bathroom. It seems “bigger is better” has become our new mantra. We might ask ourselves, “Do we buy things we don’t need, with money we don’t have, to impress people we don’t like?”
– The second area addressed by Vanier was concerning the question of authority, coupled with obedience and tradition. Vanier uses Jesus as the supreme authority figure for us to use as our example. “Jesus introduced to us a new form of authority, coupled with humility, self-sacrifice, and service.” Too many politicians (senators?) have lost all concept of this idea of humility, self-sacrifice and service. With this breakdown of respect for authority, there have been deep ramifications. You see this increased breakdown (disobedience and violence) in many places including schools and in dealings with the police.
– The third area of concern deals with sexuality, personal relationships and the world of love. In this day and age, we still see that women are not respected as much as men and this is reflected in the work place where women’s wages are still significantly behind those of men doing the same job. With the Internet and mass media, women are still often displayed as sexual objects. Has the love of sex replaced the true love of a partner? Does chastity still have its place? There must be so much confusion and worry for young teens when they see how sex is portrayed and sometimes substituted as love in our society.
Vanier warns, “Our world is evolving rapidly and is at a crisis point today. Either we will move together towards a deeper unity of all people in a spirit of openness, fraternity and mutual respect, or the divisions that exist will grow into terrible forces of fear, and hate, encouraging wars and terrorism.”
Hopefully it is not too late to make some changes.