Cry, The Beloved Country

I have just finished re-reading Alan Paton's "Cry, The Beloved Country". I first read it in High School, but remember only snippets of the story. The rich and achingly beautiful social picture it paints completely eluded my notice at the time. The book moved me to tears at a number of occasions: his descriptions of both the wondrous beauty and stark pain of South Africa, his profoundly deep understanding of the gospel of Christ, his pointed contrast of group fear with the humble love of individuals, as well as the pain of a family caught in a torn country .... all these moved me deeply.

Above all, I was struck by how 'not much has changed'. The book was written in 1948, the year the Apartheid government came to power. It is now 2006 - 12 years into the "new South Africa". The political structure has totally changed, and yet the political climate Paton describes is still recognisable 48 years later. So many of the feelings and fears remain the same.

"Cry, the beloved country, for the unborn child that is the inheritor of our fear. Let him not love the earth too deeply. Let him not laugh too gladly when the water runs through his fingers, nor stand too silent when the setting sun makes red the veld with fire. Let him not be too moved when the birds of his land are singing, nor give too much of his heart to a mountain or valley. For fear will rob him of all if he gives too much."

I did indeed cry, for my beloved country.