"Out of the cold Caribbean,
into the desert Libyan,
there crawled a strange amphibian."
~Shel Silverstein~
That's the feeling I got, standing on a bridge overlooking a cold, rushing stream, wistfully gazing over the water as something emerged quite unexpectedly from the frigid flow right beneath me. It was a bird, not a duck or even a sandpiper but something that looked like a drab just fledged robin. But it wasn't half-drowned as one might expect, rather it hopped about on the stones and branches, pecking at unseen insects in the vegetation, occasionally plunging back into the flow and swimming about as if it had every right to be there. And it did. I had been looking for one for years. I sought them in such exotic places as Alaska and Yellowstone but nary a glimpse did I see. And here, right under my nose, flaunting itself for my camera and everlasting amusement, was a young American Dipper, and in a place no more fascinating or exciting than the heart of the Midwest! I've been looking and searching and waiting, probably quite impatiently, for years and years, and there it was, with no heroic effort or sly maneuverings on my part. All that was required was a little patience (that and being in the right sort of place on occasion), but I had despaired of ever seeing one.
I remember life before the internet, yes I am that old, and I remember with what impatience we used to wait for the dial-up to connect, and now, in the age of blink and it's there technology and connectedness, I wonder if we are not even more impatient. Perhaps that is why I love old books: they remind me that life is a journey, a long one, sometimes a tedious one. If you think the 5 hour 'Pride and Prejudice' is slow, try reading 'Emma' or 'Les Miserables' or any other book of the time. I'm reading through a copy of 'Les Mis' I picked up somewhere and absolutely hate it. Before you stone me for hypocrisy, realize this is the very abridged version that came out with the last (non-musical) movie and it is so choppy and pieced-together that unless you know and love the story (in all its incarnations) you'll come away confused and annoyed, wondering what all the fuss is about. I love the not-so-abridged version (I've never been brave enough to read the whole thing!), the musical, and the movies; it is one of my favorite stories, but they slaughtered it in this version. They've destroyed the characters, have only an outline of the plot, and in general it makes very little sense unless you already know what is going on. Yet another symptom of our impatient culture: we can't stand to relish and digest and enjoy a story, we need the cliff note version, asap, and then we are on to the next 'classic,' having merely checked the novel off our 'bucket list' rather than having enjoyed, experienced, or learned aught from it.
I was rather delighted to come across this article written by a native Brit on her favorite, but little known, Costume Dramas from the UK. Not only am I eager to watch her recommendations, but I'm excited to try a few of the books themselves (not 'Bleak House'). And as you can find many of them free on project Gutenberg, I've no excuse not to. What can we learn from such classic works? Patience, certainly. Try reading 'Persuasion' and imagine yourself waiting ten years for that romance to work out the next time you get a little agitated when 'he' won't text you back within five minutes! It is a nice reminder that just because 'it' doesn't happen immediately, that 'it' never will. Just like my bird, if I persevere and do what I must, 'it' may just work out eventually and at a time I least expected, and if 'it' doesn't, well, there's probably something different, and probably better that was meant to be instead. So instead of wasting so much time with our social media 'friends,' we might do well to spend a little of it with and learning from all those intriguing characters from the forgotten books of yore, or at least watching a good movie adaptation. Happy reading (or viewing)!
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