First Sign of Civilization

The cultural anthropologist Margaret Mead was once asked, “What is the earliest sign of civilization in any given culture?”

The man who asked the question expected her to answer, a clay pot or perhaps a fish hook or a grinding stone, but Mead answered, "a healed femur," which is leg bone below the knee. She explained that no healed femurs are found where the law of the jungle governs – which is “the survival of the fittest.”

A healed femur shows that someone took care of the injured person, doing hunting and gathering for that person until the leg healed.

The evidence of compassion, she said, is the first sign of civilization. And I quickly add that compassion for others is the first sign of Christ working in the life of a believer.

It’s all about compassion, for it was Jesus who said, “’I was hungry and you fed me, thirsty and you gave me a drink, homeless and you gave me a room, shivering and you gave me clothes, sick and you visited me, in prison and you came to me.’”

The disciples asked, “When?” Jesus said, “Whatever you did one of the least of these, you did it to me.'”

The first sign of civilization, and the first sign of a Christian is compassion, seeing Jesus in the face of “the least of these.”

I need your help to care for “the least of these” on Skid Row. You may use a credit card, or EFT when you donate online, www.fjm.org on our secure website. Or phone 1-844-FJM-FOOD. Thank you for your compassionate donation for “the least of these.”

Blessings,

Willie L. Jordan (Mrs. Fred Jordan)