Cry, the Beloved Country

We just finished reading Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton. Can I share with you Annie's response?



"The great red hills stand desloate, and the earth has torn away like flesh...They are valleys of old men and old women, of mothers and children. The men are away, the young men and the girls are away. The soil cannot keep them anymore."


"Cry, the beloved country, for the unborn child who is the inheritor of our fear. Let him not love the earth too deeply."


It is with such musical language that Paton tells the story of South Africa--of a land where the soil is sick and the tribe is broken; a land that is ruled by fear. However, Paton does not stop with the hopelessness, but presents hope in the midst of the deepest suffering of the human soul, and tells of the love of an Almighty, All-knowing God--the love that is stronger than fear.


Note: Paton tells his story with the deepest, humblest empathy I've ever seen. You can tell by reading it that he has loved the land too deeply himself; been broken by it; humbled to the lowest; surrendered to its Creator; redeemed, recovered, rejuvenated to go on loving and building in a land--a world--that persists in fear.


**Note: With all of Paton's loving empathy, the thing that grabs me most out of this true, whole story, is that it's not just South Africa's story, but my own; for the United States of America is a land where the tribe is broken and the land sick.

The family is broken.


The land is polluted with flatness and fear.

My Note: Let me emphasize that last sentence before the Notes...Paton does not stop with the hopelessness, but presents hope in the midst of the deepest suffering of the human soul, and tells of the love of the Almighty, All-knowing God--the love that is stronger than fear. When we are humbled and surrender to our Creator, we, too can be redeemed, recovered, and rejuvenated to go on loving and building in a world of fear.