CHAPTER 2:12
Thirty years of sacrificial service!!
By Ron Daniel
If one were to serve in government, or be an outstanding sportsman of some sort, it is expected that your name will be remembered and praised. However it is very often the case that those that should be praised are those that are often overlooked. When Dr. Martin Luther King was preparing to accept the Noble Peace Prize award in 1964, he made the point that while the Nobel Peace Prize bore his name, that it was really a victory for the “ground crew”. He wrote in his memoir, “Members of the ground crew would not win the Nobel Peace Prize. Their names would not go down in history.
They were unknown soldiers in the second great American Revolution. Yet when years have rolled past and when the blazing light of truth is focused on this marvelous age in which we are now living- men and women will know and children will be taught that we have a finer land, a better people, a more noble civilization, because of the ground crew which made possible the jet flight to the clear skies of brotherhood. On December 10 in Oslo, I would receive – for the ground crew – a significant symbol, which was not for me, really.”
Such is the case for one Sister Viola Dore. Many have praised the contributions that pastors and priests have made to the to the Gingerland community and what politicians may have done for the Gingerland Constituency, or even what Runako’s ascendancy to the West Indies Cricket Team has done for the morale of the people of Gingerland. However very few could underestimate the significance of the contribution that Sister Viola Dore having taught Sunday School at the church for 54 years and having taught Outdoor Sunday School classes in Hanley’s Road for some thirty years.
While teaching at a Sunday School can be a thankless job, it would be foolhardy to discredit its import on the social and moral fabric of the community the Sunday School serves. It is at the Sunday School that one often learns the Bible and gets to ask questions about the bible that one does not quite understand. When one is at church, one has to sit and listen what the pastor has to say without the chance to ask any questions. However it is at the Sunday School that you get a more in-depth appreciation of what the scriptures say and what they mean. It is at the Sunday School that the virtues of discipline, respect for others, morality, forgiveness, humility, sacrifice and manners are taught, harnessed and reinforced. It is interesting to note that these are the same values that our society desperately needs today.
Many a person can testify that they would know absolutely no bible verses if it were not for the Sunday School. It is why the quote is often used, “If you can find your way around in your Bible, thank a Sunday School teacher!” Some people irrespective of how “bad” we think they are can still recite a passage of scripture from memory because of Sunday School.
There are many politicians the world over, who quote a number of scriptures in their speeches and political rallies and they too learned them at their respective Sunday Schools. Oftentimes when things of life look gloomy, we can all recite the famous passage of Psalms 121:1-2 where the Psalmist David said, “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills from whence cometh my help My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth” or Psalms 46:1 which says “Our God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in the time of trouble.” These scriptures were taught in Sunday School and they were taught by people like our very own Sister Viola Dore.
When one takes her service of some 54 years of indoor Sunday School into context, one will realize that she would have taught over 2800 Sunday School lessons in church. The fact that she taught for over 30 years during outdoor Sunday School means she would have taught over 1500 lessons under the unforgiving heat of the Sunday afternoon sun. She would have done all of this for no monetary reward, knowing that her real reward is in heaven and in the seeds that she has planted in the lives of all the people who came under her tutelage. She has toiled while the rest of society enjoyed their Sunday afternoon naps.
This is the kind of work that the ground crew does. In an age where it is almost impossible to have people volunteer in any community to do something positive, there can be no praise that is too effusive for the sterling contribution that Sister Dore has made towards the spiritual and moral fabric of the Gingerland community and Nevis by extension. Sister Dore has been a faithful member of the ground crew. Just as the ground crew checks all areas of the plane to ensure that the pilot has a plane devoid of defects, so too Sister Dore’s voluntary service in the Sunday school has ensured that the church and the community now has great people and leaders to choose from. Very often battles are not won because of excellent leaders, but because of faithful foot soldiers.
Sister Viola Dore has been the personification of selfless service to her community and her God. It is she who has been responsible for moulding lives and leaving an indelible impression on the lives and hearts of many. These years of service must not go in vain. I am to hope that leaders in Government take notice of this and give her the recognition that yeoman service like hers deserves.
