THE CRY OF A JUST MAN

“The two men said to Lot, ‘Do you have anyone else here [in Sodom] -- sons-in-law, sons or daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you? Get them out of here, because we are going to destroy this place. The outcry to the Lord against its people is so great that He has sent us to destroy it.’”  (Genesis 19:12-13 NIV)

A just man comes to Sodom hoping to save the city.  He pickets.  What else can he do?  He goes from street to street, from marketplace to marketplace, shouting, "Men and women, repent.  What you are doing is wrong.  It will kill you; it will destroy you."  They laugh, but he goes on shouting, until one day a child stops him.  "Poor stranger, don't you see it's useless?"  "Yes," the just man replies.  "Then why do you go on?" the child asks.  "In the beginning," he says, "I was convinced that I would change them.  Now I go on shouting because I don't want them to change me." 

-- Elie Wiesel, adapted

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