The case of the “good book”
Filly went to see Regan. She had wanted to see it because her dad had campaigned for Regan back in the day. In the movie she learned that Regan had been the son of an alcoholic father and had read a book that had inspired him and changed his life as a kid. The book “that printer of Udells” was the story also about the son of an alcoholic father, like himself.
“Wright, who served as a minister before becoming a writer, created a story with Christian themes. In the story, Dick Falkner, who comes from a broken home, sees his father under the influence of alcohol and his mother starving. After his parents die, Dick goes to Boyd City in the Midwestern United States to become employed. Dick believes that “Christians won’t let me starve.” A printer named George Udell hires Dick; both of them decide to become Christians and Dick becomes a revered member of the religious community due to his public speaking abilities and optimism. At the end of the book, Dick gets a political job in Washington, D.C.”
Like Regan, Filly’s dad, Herbert Howell, who had originally been a democrat, changed his political party to Republican after reading “The Conscience of a Conservative” by Barry Goldwater and recognizing that his value system aligned with the Republican platform. Her dad, like Regan, had lead an exemplary life, being of service in many venues, from helping the cancer society, and YMCA to serving at the church,, boy scouts, and running. Her dad was not raised by an alcoholic parent, and in fact his mother was very religious and taught him “the blessed are” prayers.
Filly wondered what her dad would have turned out like if he had read different books, books that put the youth in difficult scenarios that caused them to make mistakes and compromise instead of conquering over troubles. He had grown up inspired, instead of depressed, confident instead of weak.
Filly thought of the books that she had read as a child, The Five Little Peppers and how they Grew, Anne of Avonlea, Mark Twain, The Little Princess, The Secret Garden, and The prince and the Pauper and Little Women. In each of these books, the main character faces difficult situations and eventually triumphs without compromising integrity or morality.
But in contrast to these books, one of Filly’s family members had been reading Harry Potter. In this book, even though good eventually “sort of” triumphs, Filly felt like magic, aligned itself very closely to “what could also be considered to be Voodoo”, which outlined a mystical, yet intangible pathway that most kids will not cope well with, because it leads to dark places. Filly knew that the family member who read these books had become depressed, sad, and felt life was meaningless. Not a good outcome for a bright and energetic and vivacious kid on the brink of adolescence.
Filly thought that if parents wanted to inspire and uplift their children, they should pay attention to the choices made available for kids to read. To Filly’s way of thinking, gaining knowledge of evil, even in the form of a fantasy book, was like Eve eating the apple. There were many ways for people to “eat the apple” (ie. gain knowledge of evil) with computers, with Music, with books or audio books, and with art or theater or movies or magazines.
To avoid the clutches of evil, so many people now days were realizing the importance to disengage from social media and dark movies and hate filled theater because they went “into the woods”, a place of being lost and being in darkness…not a place of light and certainty.
When a person has lived a life in the woods, Filly felt like it matched a quote by Thoreau, that “the mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation, and go to the grave with the song still in them”. The woods… not happy.
Thoreau also specifically talked about “the woods” when he said, “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” But life is not about “matter” or things material…it is about things spiritual..things that uplift.
Interestingly though, that a person would think that death(being in the woods for too long) is life, and that living in the woods, in darkness, fungus, disease and dampness, could teach a person about light, life and joy. In the end, Filly believed that Good destroys evil, the same way that light destroys darkness…and we all want to reach that end game. But a person has to choose to turn on the light…and a person cannot get to the light by staying in the dark. Good to know that darkness cannot overtake light. Not ever. There is always time to make a better choice…than to choose the dark side.
Filly went on her morning walk, and on the pathway saw a man who pointed out his wife walking in the distance and he encouraged her to catch up to the woman and introduce herself. Filly said she would, and started jogging to catch up to the woman. The lady was lovely, polite and friendly. She and Filly walked and talked for several blocks.
When they stopped in front of her home, the lady invited her inside to see her collection of hand sewn quilts. The lady was quite talented, and had made a number of beautiful and intricate quilts. She did not know that Filly had been thinking about the wonderful inspiration that can come from good books with uplifting storylines about success, triumph and good will. But one of the quilts she showed Filly just before she left was a quilt she had designed and made, of a bookshelf. Filly LOVED it.
Are books a colorful and uplifting addition to that which a person calls “home”? The same way that the books made the quilt colorful, diverse and interesting, Filly knew books of the right sort, could do the same thing. Filly felt like one such book was written by her son and painted by her daughter in law, did a great job of starting with a subject of beauty, and directing it at very little children, yet inclusive for those all the way up to adulthood. What a wonderful way to start living. Yes indeed.
