The parable goes something like this. Once upon a time, there were a goodly number of people who lived in the same neighborhood. Everyone minded their own business, everyone lived a contented life and no one knew who lived next door. Then came a terrible fire, and they jumped into action. They formed a bucket brigade; just about everyone lent a hand to put out the fire.
Once the fire was over, the family that lost their house still needed help, they helped out. Then, when all was said and done, before they went back to their homes, they gave themselves the opportunity to quench their thirst together. Water had never tasted so good!
They stopped “minding their own business”, the tragedy drove them out of their “contented life”, and as they passed buckets to put out the fire, they helped the family, and as they quenched their thirst they got to know who lived next door. Their lives were changed.
This is that type of story that can send thoughts in any number of directions. In spite of the pandemic, sometimes it’s like a low-grade headache – people still push and pull pretending that nothing happened, that things should go back to the way they were. The suspicion is that things were not all that great, to begin with. It is painful to recognize that “pretending” is almost
second nature. We pretend that everything is fine, and it is, on the surface. Sometimes because it’s an embarrassment and at others, it’s shame that makes us pretend all the more. After all, “what would people say”. Just below the surface, things are not all that great, they are dreadful.
From a sociological perspective, the story tells that these anonymous individuals were shaped by the experience of the fire and they got themselves an identity “we are the ones who put out the fire”. The fire was a “foundational experience”. No longer a fragmented set of individuals, the identity they shared made them a group that could be counted on. These were good people
that became better!
We hear the Gospel stories and Jesus is clearly visible, in the “bucket brigade” sort of way. People are hungry, here is a fish, pass it on, here is a piece of bread, pass it on, and on and on.
Beyond a sociological perspective, the Gospel perspective calls on us to step away from anonymity, and step up and be Church. To be Church is more than saying prayers and going to Mass. It is to have the courage, in the name of Christ, to “join a bucket brigade”: make schools better, dignified housing for more, and support families wanting to get out of the never-ending cycles of
hopeless surrender to ignorance, poverty, drugs, violence, and alcohol.
Here is a piece of fish, a piece of bread, my hands, my heart, and soul…pass it on.
Father Francisco Gómez, S.T.