'When he saw the crowds, he went up on the mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him and he began to teach them, saying: 'Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.' (Matthew 5.1-3).
I was a student in 1970 at the time when students were revolting! In many university campuses around the world then, students were known for their radical idealism.
I was very moved in my first year when I read a letter from a South American student written to his fiancee explaining why he was breaking off their engagement: 'We have a high casualty rate. We get shot, lynched, jailed, slandered, fired from our jobs; we live in virtual poverty; we give away every penny we make above what is absolutely necessary to keep us alive. We don't have time for movies or concerts. We are described as fanatics and perhaps we are, for our lives are dominated by one great over-arching cause. This is the one thing about which I am in deadly earnest; it is my life, my business, my hobby, my sweetheart. I work for it in the daytime and I dream of it at night. I cannot carry on any friendship or love affair or even conversation without relating it to this force which drives and guides my life.' He had been converted - to Marxism, something which shaped his decisions, shaped his ambitions, shaped his motivations.
