The Priest…

There once was a young impressionable boy, who plodded through life with very little guidance or purpose. Then on one fine summers day he attended a function at the local temple and was asked by one of the volunteers to help sweep the grounds. The little boy enjoyed this and was delighted when the other volunteers told him to come back and help again, how they could use an extra pair of hands as so few young people from the PlayStation-generation volunteered in their free time. The boy’s parents were also pleased, delighted to get ride of him for a few hours each week as they felt he always got in their way. The weekly Saturday shift at the temple turned in to a weekend shift, which consisted of a full days work on both Saturday and Sunday, and with an occasional overnight stay. Eventually the boy attended the temple daily after school as well as extended hours over the weekend. The more he volunteered the better he felt. He made new friends and mentors and gained a lot of knowledge, wisdom and understanding. His focused attitude and quiet demeanour took him all the way to the top where he was regularly in the presence of the Head Priest, the CEO, the Managing Director, the Chairman, the Grandmaster etc. The Priest treated him like the son he never had; priests were supposed to remain celibate, not marry or ever engage in any sexual activities. Priests were supposed to keep no attachment with anything or anyone in this world. The boy himself felt as though the priest was like a third parent to him and gave him the attention he didn’t know he missed from his own parents and teachers.    

As the boy become older and morphed from boy and transformed into a very capable young man, he made the transition from a passive servant to more vocal ambassador for the temple and told people of the good work the priest and his entourage did. However, he’d started to encounter people from both inside and outside of the temple, including some of his own contacts and acquaintances, who gossiped saying the priest was both greedy and a womaniser, who fleeced people of their hard-earned money and sexually assaulted woman who came to his temple for help, support and guidance. As the boy had no evidence or personal experience of the priest’s alleged wrongdoing, he continued to serve with distinction and smoothed things over with the naysayers.

Then one day a very close friend of his, almost like a brother from another mother, like him someone from the inside, claimed the priest had always told him to donate 25% of his earnings to the temple despite his troubled financial situation, and he had also sexually assaulted his wife. He had sexually assaulted his friend’s wife, a mother of two children, on at least a dozen occasions over the course of a few years. The lady was scared to say anything, she feared that as her husband was such a devout follower of the priest, he would not believe her side of the story. But the man was already having his doubts about the priest who often insulted him in front of the congregation while he took his money and often asked him to leave the room so he could talk privately to his wife – this was when the priest would grope the lady and attempt to have his way with her.

The young boy-turned-man became confused. At first, he didn’t believe it. But the more he thought about it and the more he recollected the stories that he had heard about the priest, he started to convince himself that it was indeed possible. He then thought it was highly likely. He went from disappointment, to upset, to anger and eventually heartbreak.

In his state of confusion, the now young man withdraw himself from duties at the temple. Approximately three months after his hiatus, he returned to the temple to attend the wedding of a family member, held at the temple; the young man’s family had leaned into the temple after his involvement. When the ceremony was over the young man tried to make his exit through the back gate, which the general congregation did not use. As he approached the gate the priest walked through it from the other end and was now face-to-face with the young man. “Tell me my son, is there a reason you do not come to temple anymore?” said the priest. Unable to hold in his feelings and stay silent anymore, like when a tree is hit with a stick and leaves fall from it, the priest’s question was a metaphorical whack and the young man poured his heart out. He told him what he had heard. The priest tried to manipulate him “Do you really think that I could do such a thing?” The young man was brave, he stood his ground and said, “You are a man and I believe that you can!”

They stood and looked at each other for a few moments, sorrow and sadness filled both their faces. A solitary tear rolled down the young man’s left cheek. The good relationship that they had always had was now over. The young man said, “I can’t berate you as you do so much good for so many people, but I also can’t associate with you anymore because I do not agree with your actions.” They agreed to disagree and the young man was on his way. He walked a few metres away from the gate and then turned around to take one last look at the temple. The priest stood there at the gate and looked back at him.

After a few months the priest realised that the boy really had walked away from the temple and didn’t speak ill of the priest, who was able to breathe a huge sigh of relief. The priest was indeed guilty, but after his favourite servant walk away from him he changed his ways and never put a foot wrong ever again. However, as insurance the priest also spent the next 10 years until his death informing all who asked after the young man that he was was mentally unwell and made untrue accusations against the temple, in an attempt to save his own reputation. The young man walked away heartbroken and never recovered from the disappointment of being let down by the priest.

Sometimes in life you win and sometimes you lose, but in life you have to take the rough with the smooth.