Whitney

“They were a wonderful people- generous and kind from the very first night of our arrival; capable and intelligent when you saw them in their jungle environment (where white men looked anything but capable and intelligent); amenable (almost touchingly so) to any suggestion from us; eagerly interested in all that we did or said; a people who shared lavishly all they had and were, a people who laughed uproariously most of the time when they were together, and who worked hard when they were apart (for they did their hunting and planting usually alone). I found them easy to love.

It was these very qualities that nettled me. They simply did not fit my idea of savagery. What, then, did civilization mean? Was it merely an efficient method of complicating things?

For once, I listened and had nothing to say. It was a valuable exercise… I had no “outside” activities. Nothing to complicate my life. As a result, more questions were raised in my mind, especially about my own thoughts and feelings and ways of doing things. Why was I here? To “serve the Lord” of course. But what a reply! How was I to do it? What did it mean? I did not want to be misled by prejudices born of my American culture or my church tradition.

I saw the Indians live in harmony which far surpassed anything I had seen among those who call themselves Christians. I found that even their killing had at least as valid reasons as the wars in which my people engaged.

Could I really offer them a better way?

- Elisabeth Elliot, The Liberty of Obedience