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legacy – václav havel

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Since my grandfather passed last week, I’ve been considering legacy and what it means to have a lasting legacy. It’s been rather introspective and I think that it has been healthy for me. Asking yourself questions like, “What do I want my legacy to be?” or “If I were to leave this world today, what would be legacy be, how would people remember me?”, can produce change and resolve in your life. I had begun thinking about this as I sat on the 10 hour flight from Munich to Chicago on Wednesday, but yesterday waking up to the news of Václav Havel passing was another wave hitting me. (Havel was the first president of Czechoslovakia and then Czech Republic after the fall of communism, as well as a notable dissident that helped lead to the collapse of communism in then Czechoslovakia. Here’s a wiki page on him.)

I never met Havel, although I wish I could have met him, but his legacy and life impacted this kid from Lake Geneva, WI that lives, and calls home, Havel’s homeland. Sadly, some over look the impact Havel had and some question it. Or better, some question the man himself. I’m not claiming the Havel was a saint, he was a broken man like you and I, but there have been a few Czechs throughout history (another couple are Jan Hus and Jan Amos Komenský, or John Amos Comenius, to just name a couple.) that I admire and I pray that there would be more Czechs like them. Czechs that exhibit and embody the same values and qualities that made these Czechs heroes!

My director, wrote on Facebook last night, “Where are the Havels of this generation?” I would love to see “Havels” of this generation, “Havels” that aren’t concerned about themselves, but their countrymen and strive for higher virtues than “what’s best for me.” To my Czech friends, and non-Czech friends too, I would challenge you all to honor the legacy of Havel, by striving for, living out and embodying the ideas, values and virtues that made Havel the culture changer that he was! That is honoring his legacy! Yes, mourn and remember him, but remember him and honor him, by being the change that the Czech Republic so badly needs! By the way, my prayer is that the same passion that was seen last night on Wenceslas Square and throughout Prague, and the country, would be put into practice and lived out with passion! Here’s a moving video of last night’s celebrations of Havel, his life and his passing.

I have watched that video several times. As I watch it I pray for the country, I call home now, that something deep will happen. I pray that God would use the passing of this influential man to change the Czech Republic and ultimately draw more people to Himself. Please pray with me to this extent!

Here’s a couple of notable quotes from the man who helped change the course of history in the Czech Republic:

“Love and truth must triumph over hate and lies.”

“The tragedy of modern man is not that he knows less and less about the meaning of his own life, but that it bothers him less and less.”

“Man is in fact nailed down — like Christ on the Cross — to a grid of paradoxes . . . he balances between the torment of not knowing his mission and the joy of carrying it out, between nothingness and meaningfulness. And like Christ, he is in fact victorious by virtue of his defeats.”

“The only lost cause is one we give up on before we enter the struggle.”

“You do not become a “dissident” just because you decide one day to take up this most unusual career. You are thrown into it by your personal sense of responsibility, combined with a complex set of external circumstances. You are cast out of the existing structures and placed in a position of conflict with them. It begins as an attempt to do your work well, and ends with being branded an enemy of society.”

That’s just scratching the surface of the quotes you can find, click here to find more.

havel on life post-communism

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I like Vaclav Havel. I do. How can you not? I mean he was a major voice during the revolution and he was an Artist-Politician. I like that. However, I know not everyone in this country likes him, but when he chimes in on topics both dealing with Prague, culture, government, and/or Europe I really enjoy what he has to say. I won’t go into depth on it, but I wanted to share a portion of an article (Václav Havel regrets post-communist reform left unfinished) I read recently about his thoughts about life post-communism.

Havel does not hide his disappointment at ex-communist societies following the west in embracing globalisation and rampant consumerism, the interviewer, Stefan Wagstyl, writes.

“It is a two-faced trend: on the one hand it brings people thousands of advantages and joys and pleasures; on the other, it is endangering the human race,” he quotes Havel as saying.

Pointing to a mobile phone he says: “Fifty years ago, I wouldn’t have imagined this little device could be used to make calls all over the world, to make video recordings, and to send images. If someone had told me about this then, I would have thought the future world would be a wonderful one when people would have these things and would be able to communicate better. But that didn’t happen. The world today is worse, and it is full of more traps and contradictions than it was 50 years ago.”

In reaction to Wagstyl’s objection that at least in post-communist Central Europe the world is incomparably better than 50 years ago, Havel admits that it is good that the Iron Curtain has fallen and that Communism has ended.

“But that still doesn’t mean that the world is a better place,” he points out.

What I couldn’t help but think as I read the article is that Havel is longing for something more. Something better. The Kingdom that is aloof to many Czechs. As I was saying to a friend recently, when one political party replaces another or one system replaces another, that might be good, BUT it’s not enough. If the central person isn’t Jesus it will provide momentary change, but sure enough sooner or later people will be echoing Havel, “But that still doesn’t mean that the world is a better place.” This is a lesson many of us could stand to learn, especially in America, as we are all very hopeful about what a change in the White House, come the fall, could bring. Let’s be grounded – a new president won’t solve our problems, just as merely replacing communism hasn’t solved all of Czechs problems. It could be said that new problems surfaced, or they still may have some similar problems. Now I would, as almost every Czech would, take the problems of today over those of backward regime bent on it’s one power – that being the communists. Simply, may we look to Jesus for the deep lasting change!

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a grandfather’s influence

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What can I grandfather impart to his grandson?

I’ve been asking these questions, and more, since my mom called me last week, with the news that my grandfather (or G-Pa as I like to say, it’s his gangsta name.) passed away, peacefully, in his sleep – “What did my grandfather, Robert Shisler, impart to me? What in my life can I see is a direct result of my Grandfather’s presence in my life?”

We all process death and grieving differently, but I have been fighting to find these things, as well as fighting to cling to the great memories of my G-Pa that I have, rather than feel sorry for myself and my family. I think this is what my G-Pa would have wanted from me, if I would have asked him, how he would want me to grieve and remember him. My G-Pa was a man of few words, but his actions, life and how he lived spoke volumes to me throughout my 31 years of knowing him.

I thought it would be great to remember him here on my blog and I hope that this will, in some way, be a challenge for me and you to consider these values and characteristics in our lives!


So here we go… A few things that my G-Pa, Robert Shisler, imparted to his oldest grandchild…
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thanks vaclav!

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thanks_vaclav

I’ve said it before, I like former Czech president, Vaclav Havel. I’m not going to lie, I think the man is intriguing. Do I agree with everything he says, or has said, or does, or has done? Absolutely not! He is indeed a broken and imperfect man, like myself, but the man still intrigues me. Some time ago I shared some quotes and thoughts from Havel on Life Post-Communism and recently, courtesy of Bloomberg.com, we have some more thoughts from him. Last week I read an article over at Bloomberg.com, entitled, Havel Laments Czech Future as ‘Consumer Palaces’ Occupy Nation and I was once again intrigued and even encouraged by Havel.

palaces and the new cathedrals

Czechs are building “palaces of consumerism” that will occupy a third of the country in the next two decades, politicians can’t see farther than the next opinion poll and mobsters and money-changers have become the new economic elite, Havel said in an interview yesterday.

“Not many of us thought the door would be opened so quickly to all the mafiosi and back-street money-changers” who have now become “millionaires and billionaires,” he said. “We are living in the first truly atheistic society, and there’s no feeling that there is any kind of moral anchor.”

First off, it must be said, that in much of my reading and study of Czech history, that the cathedrals that you see all over the city of Prague or the country, for the most part were never full, but they served more as political statements of the ruling party, the Habsburgs (whom were Catholics), against Bohemian protestants. With that said, I won’t say that the malls have become the ‘new’ cathedrals replacing the actual cathedrals of this country, but I will say in many ways, Havel’s statement of “palaces of consumerism” is very true. I would even argue that, for the most part, these are the new cathedrals of Czech. They are places, where Czechs now find their identity, their meaning and more, and as the article says they are spreading and consuming the country at a frantic rate. This makes me wonder how the Gospel must be contextualized into this new trend.

It brings me back to something I’ve heard Keller say and I shared with our project this summer. A better way to communicate the need for the Gospel (sin), is in terms of idolatry. (Click here for a pdf from the Gospel Coalition from Keller on Idolatry in a Postmodern Age.) The essence of sin is idolatry when we elevate a good thing (a created) thing to an ultimate thing and thus we worship it. These new ‘palaces of consumerism’ that are taking over this country have been elevated to an ultimate thing, and at the end of the day they will leave the Czech people, and myself, left wanting.

How could I not find it intriguing when Havel said, “We are living in the first truly atheistic society” that lacks any moral foundation. Some might be critical of what ‘religion’ has done to the world, and I would agree. In the name of ‘religion’ or ‘God’ horrible things have been done and I lament over those many things, but something must be said of a culture that lacks “any kind of moral anchor.” When this happens, you see the things that Havel laments over – corruption, greed, lying and more. So my question to my Czech friends, or critics of ‘religion,’ is, “How is it working?” (NOTE: I say ‘religion’ because personally, I’m not fan of religion. Religion is man’s efforts to get to God to appease something above through doing so I will get out of this or that. I’m not down with that. I’m in a relationship with a God who has done what is needed, and in response to his doing, I give him myself.) I don’t ask this smugly, but brokenly, with a longing to see people here turn to something greater than the gods of consumerism, or even a presumed freedom of sorts (yes, even freedom, which is a ‘good thing’ can be elevated to an ultimate thing!). Is it working? And if it isn’t working, what must be done? Is there anything? I would not have relocated my whole life here if I did not believe in the depths of my soul that there is an alternative to all this!

it takes time

“When you have a beautiful table, or a piece of furniture, it can be kicked to bits in half a minute, but it takes weeks, months, to put it all together again,” Havel said.

It’s from this quote that I received much encouragement! Yes, Havel is referring to political change, and to a degree cultural change, but I can take heart in this quote. “Why?” Because it would seem as of late that I’ve been struggling with how hard it is to do “my job” or “work” here. In the midst of life – seeing people leave, being discouraged by not seeing results like I (we) would like to see, the difficulty of learning the language and more – I have felt discouragement creep in because ‘things’ don’t happen here on my ‘American timetable.’ I forget that it “takes weeks, months, to put it all together” and want to do it in a weekend. I was encouraged by this analogy, for this reason. It would be easy to tear the table apart or just throw it away because it would take too much time, or I could roll up my sleeves, get out my sander and other tools and go to work, realizing that it won’t happen in a day or a weekend but weeks or months – i.e. seeing lasting change here in this place isn’t going to happen in a short-term trip, or in a year of STINT, but years invested deeply, where I continue to trust God and roll up my sleeves, grab the lunch box and go to work.

Thank you Vaclav for your thoughts and encouragements! Even if you didn’t attend it (which I know you didn’t), or even if you think I’m a crackpot for what I believe and/or why I am here, my God used your words to give me some more insight on you and your countrymen, more ways to pray for you and your countrymen and also a heavy dose of encouragement. Thanks Vaclav!

a day that changed everything…

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Today, my dear Czech friends, and the whole of the country, celebrate the 19th anniversary of the fall of communism, with the Velvet Revolution that took place 19 years ago! It was truly a day that has changed everything in this country and I don’t think it can be said clearly how big of a day that was! So I wanted to give you some links to educate yourself. Here is Wikipedia on the Velvet Revolution and here is the official website of the Czech Republic’s thoughts on it. Take a quick look and while you take a quick look at these sites and these pictures…




…please pray for this country on the anniversary of this very, very big event! Pray that the freedom they have known for the last 19 years, that is largely political, would come up wanting to them and they would long for a deeper freedom. With these thoughts and prayers of/for freedom, I was reading parts of Vaclav Havel’s (for another good little link check this out: Vaclav Havel in his own words) New Year’s Address to the Nation in 1991, and was taken back by several parts of freedom:

* It has become clear that the legacy of the past decades we have to cope with is even worse than we anticipated or could anticipate in the joyful atmosphere of those first weeks of freedom. New problems are emerging day by day, and we can see how interconnected they are, how long it takes to solve them, and how difficult it is to establish priorities.

* A year ago, we all were united in the joy over having broken free of totalitarianism. Today we all are made somewhat nervous by the burden of freedom. Our society is still in a state of shock. This shock could have been expected, but none of us expected it to be so profound. The old system collapsed, and a new one so far has not been built. Our social life is marked by a subliminal uncertainty over what kind of system we are going to build, how to build it, and whether we are able to build it at all. {emphasis added}

Interesting indeed. I know that Havel is far from perfect, but his quotes from that cold night so long ago, to me, still linger in the cold of air of tonight. Has the state of shock faded or has it just been drowned by the West and Capitalism, the whole time still being there, but never really being addressed? I’m not sure. I do know that I’m committed to Czechs experiencing a deeper freedom than they have ever imagined, and I guess I deeper freedom that I could have every imagined as well. So here’s a big, “Na Zdravi” to the 19th Anniversary of the Velvet Revolution and Freedom!

a huge question, “post-communist or postmodern?”

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“Post-communist or Postmodern?” That is a question that has been discussed often in several of the ministry circles I am involved in here in Prague, Czech Republic. Most of us “Western” missionaries have to wrestle with this answer (and let’s be honest the few indigenous ministries need to wrestle with this too). I’ve seen ministries that are almost completely run as if this culture is “postmodern” and then I see other ministries that ignore the discussion about postmodernity almost completely. So they operate in the extremes and not the reality. I think that is us as humans to a degree, maybe even us as Americans; we live in the black and white and we can’t see that the answer is somewhere in the gray in-between the opposite poles. Well, I hope to write more about this, but we will leave it there for today. I did want to share a quote from a fellow missionary and friend here in Prague, this is what George Swain has to say about this question:

A lot of the folks that we meet in Prague are still in prison but don’t know it. The prison that still exists in their minds due to coming out of communism. It limits the topics they feel that they can talk about and the friends that they can have. We have had students tell us, “I don’t trust anyone but my parents!!” It is invisible but very restrictive. Some folks like Vaclav Havel have totally unlimited attitudes. They accept everything but it is usually the Godless side of everything. Those people are mainly the film writers or the authors that the western world identifies as being postmodern. Then the mistake that they make is to assume that the majority of Czechs are also postmodernists like the rest of Europe. The vast majority however, are post-communist in their thinking. It’s a totally different animal. Even our students are mainly post-communist.

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