The Least Among You Page #5

And you kind of found your way back

to the kitchen, huh?

You want to hear the story,

don't you, Samuel?

Thanksgiving, Mom had this great meal

planned for us and Roscoe.

There's a knock at the door.

We all know who it is.

The bum wanting money.

Got one hand stuck out,

the other hand with flowers,

but before he could beat me,

I got the first lick in.

And I got him good.

Real good.

He didn't say anything. He just got up and...

The look in his eyes,

I knew he was gone for good.

Mama, she just picked up the flowers.

Like I was supposed to keep getting beat

till he decided to get straight.

He was a drunk bum.

But don't you think it would've been better

if he had come at a time

when you and Roscoe wasn't there?

-What are you saying? He swung at me.

-Hear me out.

You know,

I think that you felt

he was going to swing at you.

What do you think he wanted?

He wasn't drunk.

Did you smell anything on his breath?

Did he ask you for any money?

Let's get this picture straight.

He's at the doorway, it's Thanksgiving.

Got flowers in his hand.

And he's sober.

What do you think he wanted?

Richard, we're talking about

a man who hated himself.

More than anything, he hated himself.

Then you beat him down.

Darn straight,

and he ain't never been back since.

You beat him down that last day.

Richard, if people can't change,

why are you here?

It's very nice.

I didn't hear you come in.

Why can't you transfer

to another seminary?

"Trust in the Lord, your God,

"and lean not upon

your own understanding."

Hebrew, too? You've been studying.

But you're not God.

And you're still waiting

for that personal appearance.

I'm here on probation, two semesters.

Assault and battery of a cop.

He thinks I'm here to be a minister.

I believe in reform.

We'll see.

"Wesbury TheoIogicaI CoIIege By-Laws. "

And?

If you get 70%% of the students

and faculty to sign your amendment,

it automatically goes in front of the board.

For obvious reasons,

they'd have to approve it.

That's a lot of signatures.

Meeting's December 1st.

That's 10 days away.

File your amendment then,

or wait another year.

Another year?

Very political for a girl from the jungle.

Moses, it's time for you to part the Red Sea.

That's right. We sign this petition

and it becomes school policy.

No marches, no protests, none of that.

And Wesbury becomes

a national leader in integration.

What could be easier?

-Good idea.

-Not mine.

You giving us the answer

to the Greek exam, scholar.

Why don't you just let it happen naturally?

Yeah, why do we have

to go through all this agitation?

Just so you get immediate results?

Okay, what has happened naturally

is an all white school.

Almost.

You're a first-year student

making policy changes.

Who put you in charge?

Actually, it's a job for anyone who wants it.

-Hey!

-Sit down, Fred!

-Hey, hey, hey!

-Hey!

Back off! Back off!

Get off! Get off!

You know, Alan,

bankers hate unstable environments.

-So, is your sister coming for the weekend?

-No.

That's too bad. Patsy's a lot of fun.

Did she say why?

I told her not to.

Hello. Hi, Brian.

No, no. We've finished.

He what?

Just like that?

Wow.

Yeah. Thanks, Brian. Good night.

Tremaine pulled all the funding

on the media center.

Something about re-evaluation.

Something's tragically wrong.

Listen, I'd like you to shut down

Richard's petition activity.

Why? It was all your idea.

I know, but...

What's the problem?

Richard's speeches, the petition,

where's it all leading?

Riots and bulldozers.

I doubt it.

I'd rather not take the chance.

You did not so long ago.

You had me taming the natives.

It's timing.

Just speak with him,

see if you can defuse it.

That's your job. I'm just a teacher.

Look, we both lost loved ones.

What's lost, is lost. You can't replace it.

"The first will be the last,

and the least among you, the greatest."

You're going to be a heck

of a preacher one day.

-Preacher?

-Yeah.

What you're studying for.

Look, McBride won't accept

handwritten essays.

So you can use my typewriter

if you don't need the letter "e."

-Yeah, sorry about that.

-No big deal.

There's a coin-op typewriter in the library.

Here. It was for my sister's birthday.

At least this way

she won't have to go out with you.

-The semester's not over yet.

-We'll see.

No, thank you, Bessie. I've had enough.

So, you're saying

he's not making his marks?

He's studying all the time.

I think he's taken on too much.

Schoolwork, the kitchen,

his mother's situation...

Why are you here, Dr. Beckett?

You know, Samuel, he looks up to you

for support and strength.

This petition, I'm afraid he'll fail

if he doesn't drop it.

-He's his own man, sir.

-Yes, he is.

Samuel, you've done wonders

with our gardens and I really appreciate it.

And I was hoping that

you might do wonders with Richard.

Thank you both. Good night.

Good night.

So, get these signatures in a week

and my amendment becomes law.

Pretty good, huh?

Let me tell you a story

about Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

He was a minister in Nazi Germany

preaching against Hitler.

His friends,

they had to smuggle him to America.

Saved his life.

Two weeks later,

he was back in Germany, preaching.

-He escaped and came back?

-Yeah, and they hung him,

two weeks before

Hitler blew his own brains out.

-But he followed his conscience.

-Yeah.

But if he had just shut up for a while,

everything would've been all right.

What's your point?

Maybe you should be

more realistic about things.

You're the one that's been telling me

that pain is really treasure.

No, no.

See, maybe if you just put your nose

in your books and make some grades...

What do you mean?

You saying I should quit?

No, no, no, I think you should just think

about what you're doing for a minute.

-That's all.

-I knew it'd just be me in the end.

No, look, Richard, just not play the martyr.

I'm not playing anything.

Look, what about you?

Richard, please.

You don't understand what I'm saying.

Throughout the South, there are good

church folk involved in race wars,

police brutality...

How would you deal with it?

Can you do that later?

Pardon me.

Racism is in the North, too.

It's just more subtle.

Even so,

how would you instruct your congregation

to carry out God's will?

Carrying out God's will

has gotten a lot of innocent people killed.

Indeed it has.

"He who serves

will be greatest in the kingdom."

But will people follow a servant?

"Go forth and teach all nations."

So, what is it? Proclaim or serve?

What indeed?

Thursday, you and Mr. Kelly will present

a 30-minute debate on the subject,

"Serving versus Evangelizing."

Kelly, you have a phone call.

Mom wants to thank your schooI

for giving us that money.

No, no, not yet. I'll explain later.

Listen,

Roscoe's dead.

What?

I'm sorry,

I know you two were Iike brothers.

PoIice found him in his car, dead.

I think he might've done JoJo.

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