Open Our Eyes
My Dear People,
The Aborigines "took no notice. They displayed neither fear nor interest and went on fishing."
It was the first known contact between Europeans and Australia's Aborigines.
As the British sailing ship Endeavor approached, the Aborigines simply went about their business, paddling their small canoes, and continuing to fish; paying the ship no attention.
His Majesty's Bark Endeavor was 100 feet long and weighed 400 tons, with a crew of 85.
It seems that the complexity and sheer size of the ship was so far beyond anything that the Aborigines had ever seen, they were not prepared even to acknowledge the ship's presence. And so they simply kept on seeing, and doing, what they knew; ignoring what they were not prepared to see, what they were not prepared to know.
Only when the British sailors lowered their landing boats and began to paddle ashore did the Aborigines react, recognizing the British sailors as part of their reality--men.
Most of the Aborigines fled into the woods, while two naked warriors stood and shouted fiercely at the approaching sailors.
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When do we fail to see something that is right before our eyes?
And when do we not see something because we are not looking for it, or because we have never even imagined it?
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Through the lips of the Prophet Isaiah, we hear the Divine voice say, "I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?"
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Open our eyes, dear God, open our eyes.
What would you have us see?
Your brother in Christ,
Wallace+
