This guy is the most compassionate guy I know. I literally take written notes about the way he handles people and I have done so for years. Duncan is the most people-loving person in my town: his generous spirit embraces practically everyone. He's the ultimate socialisator, he takes people as he finds them and he likes them so much that they can't get enough of him.
It’s very rare to find Duncan actively disliking someone, but yesterday night he was doing just that. I was talking about having had lunch with Lydia and he became quite somber. Lydia had unwittingly humiliated him in front of a tableful of colleagues by insistently asking about the antidepressant drugs he had been on, and passing judgment about whether he should have been taking them at all.
If there’s one character trait Duncan really dislikes, it would have to be a lack of empathy and attentiveness to other people, especially when found in adults who should know better (he does not mind it so much in eighteen-year-olds).
As it happens, I genuinely like Lydia. I find her charming and I have no problem seeing the huge amount of good will behind her awkward conversation. So as we were chatting about her, I interjected the stuff I liked about her. I painted my own portrait of a woman I like. As I expected, Duncan seized my vision in a minute and soon he ran with it.
Duncan had done the same for me a dozen times. He had depicted people I did not like in the most attractive light, and totally changed my view of them. When he and I meet over beers, we do this quite often. And secretly I think that we also use those portraits to convey just how fond we are of each other. Where would I be without the pub and some inspiring British friends?
Speaking of portraits, Andre Trocme has written a compelling portrait of Jesus as someone so passionate about the prophets’ call for Jubilee and so revolted by injustice and by lack of mercy that He was, in fact, quite tempted by violence. According to Trocme, Jesus was also tempted by a full retreat from the world.
Still, according to Trocme, Jesus lived with these two tensions and stayed tuned to the third vision he was trying to bring about. He was risking his life on a near daily basis, i.e. by healing folks on the shabbat, for the sake of each individal person who appealed to his mercy. It’s not often that I like a portrait of Jesus (in painting or in literature) but I loved the intensity of Trocme’s.
Trocme's book reads like an introductory textbook for those of us who have little background in the more socially radical strands of biblical exegesis. Anyone who picks it up can get the point in just one reading. Wow!
Oh, and yes... Andre Trocme is the pastor who turned a random village full of unsuspecting Frenchmen into Yad Vashem "righteous among the nations". That’s how I got interested in him. I found his book by following the link on Wikipedia, and the full text is free to read online.
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