In the historical novel, I...
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In the historical novel, Ah, But Your Land is Beautiful, Alan Paton told the true story of a white, South African judge named Jan Christian Oliver. A black pastor invited him to attend his church on Maundy Thursday. Given the reality of apartheid, the judge risked his career in going. Nevertheless, wanting to be a good man, he went. He learned upon his arrival that the service was to be one of foot washing. They urged his participation. He was summoned forward to wash the feet of a woman named Martha Fortuin, who as it happened had been a servant in his own house for over thirty years. Kneeling at her feet, he was touched by how weary and disfigured her feet had become from years of serving the needs of his household. Gently moved, he held her feet with gentle hands and kissed them. Martha fell weeping, as did many others in the room. The newspapers got wind of the story and Oliver lost his judgeship. His political career was ruined, but he claimed the moment to have been the very one in which he found his own soul.
-- Frye
-- Frye
