Close Enough to Hear the Prophets
Robin Waterman
July 1, 1996
It was a quiet morning, the stillness interrupted only by the rhythmic sound of my neighbors forming corn tortillas between their hands. I heard his gentle footsteps outside my door. Shyly drawing closer, Ismael stood at the doorway and greeted me. He held his machete in hand, reminding me that he was on his way to work in his milpa, his small plot of land. His clothing hung on his small, thin frame. It occurred to me that he does not have very much clothing, nor is able to wash what he has as often as he'd like. Ismael lives alone and works in the field most of the day. No washing machines, no dryers here. When would he have time to hand wash the clothes continually made dirty in his intimate relationship with the land he cultivates? Ismael has just turned seventy-four years old. Through our mutual love of discussing Biblical text with a focus on gleaning new insights toward creating a world of more love, justice, and equality, we have developed a great fondness for one another. Through our friendship, Ismael has become one of the most influential prophets in my life. Because of his age, and because he is single and lives alone, I have recently become concerned about Ismael's health. In the last few weeks intermittent pain has worn down his already frail body. He has no money to purchase any sort of pain medicine. I had seen how this was beginning to affect his spirit. Ismael had begun to lose some of the sparkle in his eyes, as well as some of the ánimo in his mischievous laughter and undying enthusiasm to explore and preach about issues of faith and politics. And so, when I received medi- cine from my support team in Denver, I gave Ismael a small bottle of pain relief medicine. This morning, Ismael had come to thank me ...
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