Modern Applicability

PBS/Masterpiece Theater came out with a new version of Little Women a year or two ago and I finally got to watch it.  It was amazing!  I've never seen a movie version of this particular book and they did an excellent job.  I'm rather amazed that they could be so true to the book and the mores of classic literature in this 'enlightened' day and age.  Apparently the new 'Anne of Green Gables' had an episode that delved into a modern issue that had no place in the books and I'm glad I haven't started watching that only to rue it six hours in.  They are coming out with a 6 hour Les Miserables too, I read a blurb about it somewhere that was excited about the 'modern applicability' of the new version of the tale, which may be just the spin the writer of the blurb put on it or it may be a very scary thing indeed, but they did a good job with Little Women so maybe Jean val Jean will be in good hands?

It was rather hilarious watching the extras on the musical version of Les Mis that came out a few years back.  The cast and crew was going on and on about how applicable it was to modern sentiments (occupy wallstreet!) and completely missed the entire point of the story, they even waxed long about civil war soldiers carrying the book with them, 'Lee's Miserables' they were called, but not seeming to realize that Lee was on the pro-slavery side of the Civil War, oops!  They are right that these tales do have modern applicability, but not in the way they think.  Human nature does not change, the virtues and vices are unchanged since the dawn of time, though what occupies our cultural attention at any given moment certainly does.

Sending Anne Shirley to a drag ball isn't going to become a timeless tale like the original books because it is a mere cultural moment, not a glimpse of what it is to be human, regardless of your race, gender, sexual orientation, religious creed, culture, time period, hair style, income, education...those are all externals, like clothes or makeup, things that adorn us but it is not Who we are.  Modern culture likes to make What we are, Who.  But classic literature, like God, looks past all that, to the very heart of a person, to know who each and every one of us is.  Anne Shirley, Jo March, and Jean val Jean have endured for over a century because they are human, or rather were written so well we can identify with their struggles, rejoice in their triumphs, and find hope for our own growth in their adventures.  We see ourselves in them, rather than finding just another vehicle to push a political, social, or cultural agenda.

C.S. Lewis has it right when he says humans are immortal though kingdoms, cultures, even the earth itself, will fade away, of all this we currently call 'reality,' only human souls will endure, and it is the development and growth of that soul with which classic literature is concerned, while most modern storytellers are content with cheap and shallow cultural thrills, and their tales pass away as swiftly as leaves upon the wind, while the classics endure, generation after generation, even if the storytellers of the age don't fully comprehend their source material, still light and good shine through for those that have eyes to see, ears to hear, and the open, wonder seeking hearts of little children.

How to Live like That

Whether you are taking the Dave Ramsey plunge or trying a new diet, revolutionizing your lifestyle to revolutionize yourself is all the rage in this modern era of ours, but I wonder if we have it backwards?  There's nothing wrong with eating better (me) or sticking with a workout plan (the hubby) or getting out of debt or getting a better job or moving to a better neighborhood or spending less time in the web-o-sphere, all of those are laudable accomplishments and may really change your life, but trying to change yourself, who you are as a person, that someone you become when no one is watching, by trying to change external things like diet, exercise, career, location, relationships...isn't going to do all that much for who you really are.

You can get that gender transition surgery or go see a psychiatrist or dye your hair or lose weight or identify as a howler monkey or go back to college or start a non-profit or go off the grid or whatever, but it isn't going to change who you are.  Contrary to popular belief, you were not born 'this way' neither will you stay 'this way,' you are a dynamic individual, different now than when you went to bed last night and you'll be different tomorrow than you are today.  Every thought, word, and action is slowly, think glacial here, changing you, for better or worse.  So if you want to start being a better person you just start saying, acting, and thinking better things, right?  Maybe, the question is, what are 'better things?'

Modern thinkers (why do I want to put quotes around that!) would have us believe we must be tolerant, open-minded, accepting of others (except those who don't believe as the modern thinkers do) but a quote I saw attributed to G.K. Chesterton comes to mind: 'don't be so open-minded your brains fall out.'  Be polite, kind, and respectful of all people, no matter what they believe?, by all means, yes!, but just because I don't happen to agree with you doesn't mean I hate or disrespect you, no one can agree on everything, be it colors or pizza toppings.  I miss the old days of 'agree to disagree,' instead it seems like everyone is ready to pummel everyone else over the silliest things.

Let's skip the political minefield of 'tolerance' and try some other measure of 'better things.'  Food?  Organic, paleo, gluten free, non-gmo, vegan...ugh, that's no better!  Environmentalism...no!  The weather?  Floods, blizzards, wildfires, hurricanes...this is not a good time for even that discussion.  So what is good and right and true?  How can we become better if we can't even define it?  And no, defining it for ourselves doesn't get us anywhere, the 'all chocolate diet' of my preference isn't going to fly in real life, no matter how much I want to believe that it is true.  Which leaves us with one big huge mess, maybe going on a diet is the only way to improve oneself, at least physically we have some consensus on what's desirable, just look at those models...ugh, nothing is safe!

The moderns have totally destroyed rational thought, thanks grandma!  Perhaps we should go back in time a hundred years or more and figure out what was good back then?  But we can't talk to anyone about it, or can we?  Go exhume Jane Austen or one of the Brontes or Louisa May Alcott and see what they think upon the matter, no one is more qualified!  How you ask?  Just dig into a great book and enjoy a little Sense with your addled Sensibilities!  If you want to change that inner person, a steady diet of classic literature is just the thing, it's even gluten free, enjoy!

In the era of selfies...

I usually abhor any sort of self-promotion, hence my use of a pen name!  But here's a link to something a third party actually found worth publishing, and it is really good, if I'm allowed to say so as the author?  It's nice to be my own guest blogger!

Wake the dead?

I got chewed out the other day for merely walking into a gas station/deli with the intent of ordering food but not calling ahead to warn them of my 'large' crowd.  I looked at our humongous assemblage consisting of a one year old, a six year old, 3 thirty-somethings, and an older couple.  One guy bought a pre-made sandwich, the kids and I weren't eating anything but snacks, leaving a grand total of 3 people who might order something from the deli.  Boy did I feel like dirt, and through no fault of my own and that was the worst part of it.  By nature I'm a people pleaser and do everything I can to make sure others are comfortable and happy, even at the cost of my own comfort and happiness.  When someone still gets mad at me though I've tried my best not to cause problems or frustration, it stings and I wonder what's wrong with me.

My favorite books and people all share one trait: kindness.  I grew up without any and still struggle with the thought that it's because I don't deserve any.  But we all do merely for the fact that we're human, wrought in the very image of the Divine, though if you are of the opinion that a monkey is indeed your uncle, that's a whole other philosophical argument I won't address here.  People are a bit harder to sort through, but books are fairly obvious.  Trashy romance novels make me ill.  Heartless adventure stories leave me cold.  Murder mysteries without a soul stay on the shelf.  I need warmth, plot, character, depth, in short, the epitome of what it is to be human, those are the books that win my heart.

Jane Austen, C.S. Lewis, G.K. Chesterton, Tolkien, L.M. Montgomery, Alcott, Victor Hugo, Walter Scott, George MacDonald...they all get it.  I don't love every book they've ever written, but their works have endured for a reason, and it isn't the torrid romance, indeed, they are full of what might be called romance, sentimentalism, pathos, but it has nothing to do with bulging muscles and ripped shirts, but rather it is an exploration of the spiritual, emotional, mental, and feeling side of what it is to be human.  Modern culture has reduced 'romance' to a mere carnal lust whereas it used to mean something quite different, indeed, while there is romantic affection and the pursuit of relationships within many of these books, it is only a thing, not the Only Thing.  There is so much more going on, something far bigger than the characters and plot, a something that makes the books real, tangible, believable.  A something that hardly makes a cameo in any modern writing.

What is that something?  It is the same thing we spend our lives pursuing.  The something that makes our mere existence a true life.  Most try to content themselves with trashy, shallow romance or some other intoxicating substitute, but they always come away empty and searching for more.  As I said before, we are each a work of Divine creativity, we are even told 'eternity has been put into our hearts,' so is it any surprise that we yearn for Him above all else, even if we know it not or mistake it for a longing for something else.  These books aren't preachy or theological or even metaphysical or spiritual but they are set in a world where such is possible, where virtue and events aren't mere happenstance, where magic and hope and meaning still happen, a world very much like the one we inhabit, except we choose not to see it.  Our stories and lives are as two dimensional as our worldview, we choose to box ourselves into a small, duller place because it is 'safe' and of our own design, little realizing we have trapped ourselves within our own tomb.  But the cement isn't dry yet, we can still break out and find the sun, and picking up a good book might just be your first step back towards real life!