Baha'i Perspectives

nadim May 21st, 2008

The 2006 documentary film “God Grew Tired of Us” tells the story of a large group of Sudanese boys, known as the Lost Boys of Sudan, who escaped near certain death during the country’s civil war in the 1980s by walking hundreds of miles through barren lands, eventually into neighbouring Kenya. Arriving at a refugee camp desperately malnourished and on the verge of starvation, the boys spend the next decade living hand-to-mouth, at each moment wondering what became of their families and dreaming of returning to Sudan. Naturally, after all this shared suffering, the degree of friendship shared by these boys is immense — such that when the United States agrees to accept some of them as refugees, it is with a great deal of difficulty that they bid farewell to one another.

This is where the real story of the film begins. Arriving in the U.S. never having seen electricity, never having taken a shower much less experienced running water, their plight is seemingly helpless. Indeed, were one to stop watching the film at this point, one would expect this film to proceed in the same vein as so many others: another supposed success story of the “undeveloped” finding “development”", the “have-nots” finding the keys to “prosperity”, the “less civilized” at long last discovering “civilization”. With these patterns of classification so deeply prevalent in society, no one can be surprised at their consequences, not only in the way they affect the nature of our interpersonal relationships with those perceived as outsiders, but also in the unnumbered prejudices, both overt and subtle, that arise as a result.

Watching the film, however, a different picture begins to emerge. The film’s protagonists, after the initial shock of being thrust into their new environment, proceed to evaluate the nature of the this life as compared to life in the refugee camp.

The perspective they provide is truly eye-opening. One of them wonders why, at Christmas time, so much emphasis is placed on Christmas trees and Santa Claus — to paraphrase his comments: “Where are these things mentioned in the Bible? Nobody can answer this question for me. Back in the camp, at Christmas we used to dance to celebrate. We would also reflect on the birth of Christ’s and think about how to improve ourselves.” Another, who found a job at a local supermarket, talks about a distressing incident where a lady was crying and everyone passed by without caring to ask her what was wrong. He reached out to her, as was the custom back home, and she took the opportunity to open up to him (much to his own surprise, it must be added). All of them speak of the sense of isolation that they feel living in a society where group culture is non-existent and neighbours hardly talk to each other.

Today, all the peoples of the world are indulging in self-interest and exert the utmost effort and endeavour to promote their own material interests. They are worshipping themselves and not the divine reality, nor the world of mankind. They seek diligently their own benefit and not the common weal. This is because they are captives of the world of nature and unaware of the divine teachings, of the bounty of the Kingdom and of the Sun of Truth.

(Abdu’l-Baha, Selections from the Writings of Abdu’l-Baha, p. 103)

This film provides a striking demonstration of how the two dimensions of human existence, the material and the spiritual, should both be looked after in order to promote true human welfare. The lost boys of Sudan would never have achieved their dream of receiving a higher education were it not for the structural and material means afforded to them by moving to the United States. At the same time, by their simple yet moving commentary on the realities of life in the U.S. compared to back home, they display a maturity of insight that a purely secular system of schooling could never provide.

We must care for man’s two natures; for as the material man makes certain demands for food and raiment and if not looked after suffers, even so his spiritual reality suffers without care.

(Abdu’l-Baha, Divine Philosophy, p. 96)

Reflecting further, there are two pairs of themes that are at play here, which historically have given rise to failed or failing ideologies. These themes are touched on somewhat indirectly during the film, yet in a sense they encapsulate the context that the boys find themselves in. In the next part, I will identify these themes and try to examine them.

Meanwhile, I suggest renting this film and watching it — it’s well worth it.

Tags: culture, development

• Arts & Culture , Baha'i Concepts , Society
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