The things two men left behind

My friend and combox regular Bill Holston, a Dallas immigration attorney, e-mails news from his day (so far) at the office:

I tried an Ethiopian asylum case this morning.

My client was imprisoned for five years, opposing the Marxist Dergue, then upon his release was involved with a series of political parties, seeking democratic rule in Ethiopia. My client was imprisoned four times for political activism. He was kept in overcrowded, filthy jails, becoming sick from drinking untreated river water, because that's what was given to them. He was beaten to unconsciousness on one occasion.

Each time on his release, he was warned not to continue his pro-democracy activities. In 2006, he distributed fliers with the photos of imprisoned party leaders from the CUD, the Coalition for Unity and Democracy, the Kinegit. He was arrested and taken to jail for this simple act.

I asked him, "Sir, you had been repeatedly warned not to participate, and to stop your political activities. Why, despite those warnings, did you continue?"

With tears in his eyes he said, "For my children. There is a price for liberty. There is a cost for freedom, and that's why I kept doing that."

Every American should see this. It's among the most inspiring things.

The Judge granted asylum. I knelt in the parking lot of the Federal Courthouse and without shame said a prayer of thanksgiving.

This 62 year old man, thanked me, and hugged me. Damn fine day at the courthouse. I left and thought, "Everyone should get to see this."

Amen. What Bill accomplished, and what his client accomplished back in Ethiopia, reminds of me of something Father Arseny once said, as recounted by a former Soviet labor camp prisoner who knew him in the camps:

Father Arseny opened up a new life for me, he brought me to God, and he recreated my inner self. This is why now I want to say what is essential about him. One can talk about him endlessly, because his deeds have no limits, and these deeds boil down to God and love -- the love he feels for people in the name of the Lord.

I remember his words: "Before dying, each person must leave something behind, must leave a trace of some kind. Be it a house built with his own hands, or a tree he has planted, or a book he has written -- but whatever it is must have been done not for himself but for other people. Whatever your hands have created will be the mark you leave after your death. People will look at what you have made, or at what you have planted, and you will live again in bringing them joy, and they will remember you and ask the Lord to bless you. What you make is not the important thing, but what is important is that what you have fashioned becomes better than what it was before. It will contain a spark of yours if you have made it in the name of God and of love for others.

"The most important thing," said Father Arseny, "is to help others, alleviate their suffering, and pray for them."