The salesman chose glen plaid and insisted on the finest worsted wool available. It was the touch of muted yellow in the patter of elegant grays that appealed to him. Having waited a long time for his reward, perfection and luxury were to be his at last. Each stitch and tuck was to be perfect. As the tailor busily took measurements, the man explained, that this suit must be made with the most meticulous attention to detail.

“I have become known,” the tailor sniffed, “as the state’s most skilled in my trade with good reason. You will not be disappointed.” 

Two weeks went by. Then a third. Being patient and agreeable by nature, the man assured himself the tailor was taking extra time for the sake of quality work. At last the tailor telephone saying the suit was ready. The final fitting took an hour and a half. The man wrote a check for almost three times more than he had ever paid for a suit. It was going to be worth it, he told himself.

Swelling with pride the man wore his new suit to the charity banquet and waited for compliments from his associates. None came. Finally, he retired to the restroom for a careful look in the mirror. Twisting his back awkwardly and squinting, he could plainly see a bubble in the fabric where the left shoulder blended into the collar. “Surely the tailor will fix that,” he said to himself.

Standing tautly in front of the oak-trimmed fitting mirror in the tailor shop, the man expected some sign of contrition from the tailor that had been so widely recommended. Instead the tailor stiffly explained, “It’s not my suit, but it’s the way you wear it that has brought you back here.”

“Really, how’s that?” Asked the man, being careful not to challenge. “As I said, it’s the way you stand and hold your shoulder that we must correct. It’s good you came in. I simply can’t have one of my suits displayed in public with such carelessness.”  Hearing the resolve in the tailor’s voice, and recalling his reputation convinced the man that a proper adjustment was forthcoming.

“Bring your right shoulder forward a bit,” the tailor instructed. The man was surprised to hear a voice lacking in the slightest hint of warmth. He thought of objecting, but being cooperative in nature, he did as directed.

“Humm. Down a bit now,” the tailor mumbled. By now he was avoiding eye contact. As the man dropped his shoulder slightly he could see in the mirror only rich, smooth fabric where the bothersome bubble had been.

“Ah, I knew he’d make it right.” The man thought to himself as he held the pose and walked to the front of the shop. The tailor, silent and expressionless, held the door open as the man strode onto the sunlight of Maple Street.

Every time the man put on the suit he savored its luxury. He kept his right shoulder forward and down a bit and after a while the stance became second nature. On his return from the most lavish wedding of the year, the man looked closely at the left trouser leg. He was disappointed to see the fabric puckering just below the knee along with the inside seam.

His tailor was visibly annoyed when the man returned the second time to his shop. Tugging at the offending seam, the tailor grunted, “It’s the way you point your foot. Point your left foot about 20 degrees to the right.” Puzzled and growing impatient, the man hesitated, started to object, but thinking better of it, rotated his foot to the right. “He is, after all, the best tailor around and must know what he is doing,” the man told himself.

Wearing his new suit then meant bending his shoulder and twisting his foot in a most unnatural way. Still, its fabric was splendid and it did fit well once the man altered his posture and gait. What a fine suit it was, he reminded himself. Then he noticed the wrinkle under the left sleeve. This time the tailor was rude as the man revisited the shop. He gruffly told the man to hold his left arm across his body at a forty-five-degree angle, to extend his thumb and to point it toward his right knee. “This all seems odd indeed,” the man thought, but he assured himself that if he followed instructions as before all would be satisfactory. It always had been so before. This is the best tailor in the state, he repeated to himself.

With this last alteration to his demeanor, the man walked with a halting and most unusual gait.

Two flower vendors near the bus stop watched him pass slowly by and one turned to the other, “Don’t you pity that poor soul so deformed and contorted? I think he does well not to be in a wheel chair, don’t you?”

“Oh, I do, indeed,” the second vendor replied, “But have you ever seen a suit fit anyone so well?”

What else would make Rose Kennedy Say:

“We always understood the ways of almighty God -- the crises which he sends us; the sacrifices which he demands of us. Thus we know his great goodness and love.” (Rose Kennedy during a TV interview at the Cape Cod compound a week after the funeral of RFK. From the PBS series on the Kennedys, summer 1992.)

Or make Beverly LeHaye say:

“I see this as the Lord’s way of strengthening me,” commenting on a grandchild with Down's syndrome and another having had seven surgeries to correct a hearing problem? (Amy Wilson, Detroit Free Press, May 16, 1993 Sec J, page 4)

Or these:

“I think life can be a sort of spiritual testing ground and I think when we see suffering in life often the greatest thing that God achieves is that of suffering.” (Charles Colson during interview with Larry King, January, 1993. Colson was awarded the Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion in February of 1993.)

“Persons with terminal illness or those born with severe physical or mental limitations are needed by all of us, because they help us see the full range of gifts within the human person. ... even terminal suffering has value and meaning...” (Archbishop Adam J. Maida, Detroit Free Press, Letter to Editor, February 11, 1993)

All this calls to mind the early days of my fraternity membership when we pledges would approach an active member, hand him a paddle and assume the position appropriate to receiving a smarting blow to the posterior. Then we’d say, “Thank you sir, may I have another?”

Sure let’s have more suffering -- it’s good for all of us. More babies with Down’s syndrome to strengthen us. Got that, everybody? According to the First Article of Religion of the episcopal Church (1801), “There is but one living and true God... of infinite power, wisdom and goodness...” So that god of infinite power, wisdom, and goodness strengthens A by ruining the life of B. And how do folks explain it? Some like Mrs. Kennedy say it’s “great goodness and love,” while the less articulate say “God works in mysterious ways.” How often do we hear that?

It’s our fault, not the tailor’s!