Having taught
at the Coptic Catholic seminary in Cairo, Egypt, for six years, I had been a
spiritual companion to the seminarians.  One day Rimon entered my room to talk.
"You know," he said, "when we go to the vegetable market, we might buy a tomato
that isn’t quite ripe.  In fact, it might even be hard and tough.  But we turn
it in our hands, warming it ever so slightly to soften it.  I think that’s what
you are doing to our minds and consciences. You help us to think and reflect,
and that softens us up to new ways of thinking and acting!" Little did Rimon
know how much he and his companions had been turning me over and softening me as
well.