A sure hope

A line from the film The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel:

"In India we have a saying: Everything turns out well in the end. If things are not going well, you know that it is not yet the end."

(There are other sayings from India not to be addressed in this short column, such as: "What is the use of counting the mango trees? Eat the mangoes.")

The hotel clerk in Marigold Hotel utters the quote above to pacify a disgruntled guest at his establishment. It is funny because it is India. The saying rings true in a country steeped in suffering. What strikes us about it is its acquiescence and wryness. Nothing works out well in India, we are given to understand, but never mind, this is to be expected. The fact that things are intolerable at present is merely a sign that life is normal. Therefore, cheer up. Conditions are going according to plan. If our days were free of hassles, then that would be our evidence that we had left normal life and reached Moksha.

And so, you see, the clerk is actually doing the irate patron a favor by throwing in a little metaphysics free of charge, along with the dust, cockroaches, and pigeons in the luxury hotel that does not live up to its billing. Why should she complain?

But I decided I should take the hotel clerk's saying to heart. It is a good one. It is a culture making lemonade of lemons. And why not make lemonade of lemons when you can?

I would suggest merely one element of improvement to the saying, if by chance I can transform it from fatalism to inexpressible joy:

"And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose" (Romans 8:28).

No wryness there. No tongue in cheek. No despair. Outwardly the circumstances look the same for the fatalist in India as for the Christian confessionalist: The hotel may be a dump, the vacation may be a flop, the brochure may have over-promised, but the believer in Christ has a sure hope and not just a fistful of wishful thinking. And the Promiser doesn't hawk the future with a wink and a nod.