Issue nº 65

The Law of Jante  |  The Catholic and the Moslem
The death of my father-in-law, Christiano Oiticica

     During lunch I was talking to a Catholic priest and a young Moslem man. When the waiter passed by carrying a tray, everyone served themselves except the Moslem, who was observing the annual fast prescribed in the Koran.
     When lunch was over and the people were leaving, one of the guests could not refrain from commenting: "see how fanatic the Moslems are! It's a good job you have nothing in common with them."
     "But we do," said the priest. "They try to serve God as much as I do. We just follow different laws."
     And he added: "what a pity that people only see the differences that separate them from one another. If they looked with more love, they would see mainly what we have in common - and that would be the solution to half of the world's problems."