Читать книгу Closer to God - John Moehl - Страница 4

In my first effort to confront my binary life (Phobos & Deimos: Two Moons, Two Worlds, 2016), I was blazing my trail—clearing the brush, trying to find the way to describe a lifetime divided between two continents. Through this inaugural book, my first endeavor to compose fiction for wider public consumption, I attempted, as an outsider, to look through the eyes of a variety of insiders—people into whose lives I had plummeted, people with different cultures and norms, but a common humanity. I was trying to look closely at the day-to-day activities of others to try and understand better how they themselves adjusted to the unknowns we all find in our paths.

The present text is still very much a part of my double life; this time, attempting to look through the eyes of another foreigner who, like myself, is an incomer, but whose mission and expectations are very different from mine. This work is fictitious, albeit some of the geographic features are those of Central Africa. The individuals, institutions, and settings of the characters, as well as their actions, are all fictitious—an amalgam of my time working in this region in the 1980s—and any seeming relationships with or references to persons living or dead, or institutions, past or present, is purely coincidental.

For both of these writings, and for all aspects of my life, I have relied heavily on the guidance and insight of my wife of four-plus decades. She has helped me see life through a unique and highly sensitive lens, understanding others’ joys and sorrows, and respecting others’ individuality. She has cautioned me to watch where I stepped, as I have sometimes catapulted along life’s path, having far too often dragged her through the brambles. In the face of many sacrifices, she has always been my touchstone and it is with love and profound gratitude that I dedicate this, and all that I do, to Elisabeth.