Explantion of the poem "A man"
I did not write this poem because of self-pity, I did not write this poem to attract my church's attention, I did not write this poem because i want my friends to attend to me more often, I did not write this poem because "I think I suck". I did not write this poem because I want to self-label. I did not write this poem to attract public's attention. I am not the man. Not so alike.
I feel that a church nowsadays need more love. Seriously more love. Not so much to the members. They need to show love to the new members. More love. I cannot say that the church nowadays are not showing love, but people nowadays are coming, and leaving the church! A lot of membership increment is due to people who cannot feel any sort of friendship in the church. They do feel warmth. But not friendship.
How can the church go on like that? How can the people stay more than 20 months? Many would leave. Only some will stay.
Compared to the world, the church is warmest remote place that a person can go. The people are just so warm, comforting, talkable. That's real true.
For the outgoing people, they have no problem at all finding their group of friends, their family, their belonging to the small group. But the shy ones? The non-outgoing ones? The quiet ones? I am not trying to say that everyone is like that. In fact, it's a minority. And I am not in that group. Some of the quiet, shy, non-outgoing ones have life problems, that only God can solve for them. But they are seekers. Some seeker seekers, some christian seekers. These are the people you must pay attention to.
For those type of non-expressive, shy, non-outgoing, quiet, strong-faithed christians, the church MUST pay attention to them. What a person would like when he wants to stay in the church, is a sort of strong friendship. He or she does not want aquiantancy, does not want a friendship based on experience. He wants a good friend, a friend who can talk with them, who is sociable them, who share their feelings with them. Let me tell you, don't expect a person to stay for more than 20 months if he cannot find a bond of friendship there.
What they want is fellowship in the church. They don't want aquiantancy. I know what they want, because I am shy, non-outgoing, quiet, non-expressive.
In the poem, the man is just as shy as me. But he is an unbeliever. However, he is seeking, for an answer. He is desperate. In great, immense despair. He's very close to be saved. He's not very outstanding in his looks, and his expression. But he is more unique than the rest(I say more unique, because God creates all of us unique). He does'nt know what to do during the service. He walks in the church, shakes some hands, then "Good morning!" greets. This went on for many weeks, many church services. No one knows, or bothers so much to know about him, because he is JUST SO HARD to talk to! It seems like he just won't say more than a sentence per question. They don't know this person is seeking. All he needs is a helping hand, a hand to pull him to the light. That's a friend. He needs someone to understand his complicated life. But there is not one, who bothered to do that. He is too ashamed, too shy, to tell anyone. Because in the first place, he does not even have a good friend in the church to let him tell the questions in his mind.
This man can play very good BOTH guitar and bass. He is a professional breakdancer. His has an excellent, as in a very soothing, smooth, loud voice for singing. Finally, he is a good essay writer, a good factual, reasoner. So he can be a worship leader, bassist, guitarist, church performer, and a pastor, AT THE SAME TIME.
But no one knows. Because he is so 'untalkable', so quiet, and of course, lonely.
He had many aquiantances in the church, 3 experiental friends (friends who share experience, no deeper). But no close friends.
He's too lost. Too isolated. And so he went. And so he died intently.
Sad ending, painful lesson. Too late. God's given them months of space, but no one did nothing.
