The Overarching Eye of Gabalawi
This piece is a response to the book Children of the Alley. Throughout the novel, I was constantly asking myself along with the people in the alley, “Where is Gabalawi?” I was very moved by this constant struggle because I had asked myself this question over a hundred times when I was young, of course with a different name. “Where is God?” “Does God see me doing this?” “Does God really know if I lie just once tomorrow?” Of course, as I developed, these questions turned into doubt for me. “If God did not care enough to let me say goodbye to Tante Klara, is God really there?” “What if God is not really there?” I think that I was exactly like the characters in the book: I wanted to cast blame. If blame could be casted, then perhaps hurt and suffering could be alleviated from my hands. Of course, the hurt and suffering experienced in the alley are very different form the suffering faced by a young girl in Michigan, but pain is pain nonetheless. In my response, although the “overarching eye of Gabalawi” seems very simplistic and direct, I really wanted to address the concept that the overarching eye may or may not be there. Gabalawi may not exist; god may be just as much a concept as this fictional character, but the homes around Gabalawi’s eye are congruent. So are the pain, the suffering, the corruption, and the small shreds of hope. I think that ultimately, faith should not be cast in a sense that allows for suppression, but faith must be created and harnessed for growth and goodness. If one’s faith creates scapegoats and excuses, then these beliefs must be reworked. In a sense, the people allowed each other to resign to the hardships of life and blamed Gabalawi for not listening to them. Instead, they should have listened to each other. They should have stopped forgetting. Faith is complicated because of its subjectivity, but we must learn to shape faith from that which is congruent, that which is there. We must not always ask “Where is God?”, rather, we must find the strength in each and every soul on Earth to say “Here I am.”
This piece is a response to the book Children of the Alley. Throughout the novel, I was constantly asking myself along with the people in the alley, “Where is Gabalawi?” I was very moved by this constant struggle because I had asked myself this question over a hundred times when I was young, of course with a different name. “Where is God?” “Does God see me doing this?” “Does God really know if I lie just once tomorrow?” Of course, as I developed, these questions turned into doubt for me. “If God did not care enough to let me say goodbye to Tante Klara, is God really there?” “What if God is not really there?” I think that I was exactly like the characters in the book: I wanted to cast blame. If blame could be casted, then perhaps hurt and suffering could be alleviated from my hands. Of course, the hurt and suffering experienced in the alley are very different form the suffering faced by a young girl in Michigan, but pain is pain nonetheless. In my response, although the “overarching eye of Gabalawi” seems very simplistic and direct, I really wanted to address the concept that the overarching eye may or may not be there. Gabalawi may not exist; god may be just as much a concept as this fictional character, but the homes around Gabalawi’s eye are congruent. So are the pain, the suffering, the corruption, and the small shreds of hope. I think that ultimately, faith should not be cast in a sense that allows for suppression, but faith must be created and harnessed for growth and goodness. If one’s faith creates scapegoats and excuses, then these beliefs must be reworked. In a sense, the people allowed each other to resign to the hardships of life and blamed Gabalawi for not listening to them. Instead, they should have listened to each other. They should have stopped forgetting. Faith is complicated because of its subjectivity, but we must learn to shape faith from that which is congruent, that which is there. We must not always ask “Where is God?”, rather, we must find the strength in each and every soul on Earth to say “Here I am.”
dmuhleisen said this on October 27th, 2015 at 1:30 am
I love the artful design
Graphic Designer said this on February 11th, 2017 at 7:47 pm
Love it
Web Designer said this on June 28th, 2018 at 4:08 am