Good-bye, Mr. Chips

Good-bye, Mr. Chips is a book.  My Dad gave it to me to read a few days ago as a quick poignant read.  Bowing to my father's superior knowledge of literature, I began to read, and was wonderfully surprised at what I found.

Good-by, Mr. Chips, by James Hilton, is not a famous classic.  It is not a sweeping epic full of flowery language and tumultuous problems wrapped in a bombastic ending with a bittersweet moral.  It is simply a good story about a good man remembering his good life.  How often do we come across a story like that in fiction? 

We have become addicted to cynicism and troubled psyches in our effort for realism.  While realism is admirable, when I want facts, I look to non-fiction.  We come to fiction to either escape from reality or to find a different view of the world.  The latter is true especially for fiction that falls outside of the fantasy and science-fiction categories.  Fiction can help open our eyes to the world that could be, instead of the world that is.  It can let us see our world through the eyes of another.  Too often, the viewpoint chosen shows a world full of hatred and bereft of forgiveness. 

James Hilton has chosen to let us see the world through a latin professor at a boy's school in England, Mr. Chipping, known affectionatly as Mr. Chips.  The book, only 126 pages, details the highlights of Mr. Chips career, from a well respected teacher to a beloved legend of the school.  Mr. Chips admits to himself that he is not a great academic, but he easily accepts his scholastic mediocrity.  Here is a man who merely wishes to carve out a corner of the world and leave it better than he found it.  There is no doubt that Mr. Chips accomplishes his goal.

Good-bye, Mr. Chips is a joy to read.  It doesn't ask anything of you but a few hours of your time; however, it offers a wonderfully human story in return.  I am not ashamed to say that it moved me to tears, and I haven't been that moved by a piece of literature in far too long.

So, read it, if you have the inclination.  Hopefully, it will make your world brighter than it was.

What's with the Darkness?

And no, I don't mean how the sun runs away faster now and night falls a bit harder.

I mean this odd fascination with all things dark.  I'm not saying that people shouldn't look at dark things; I enjoy a jaunt into the crazy creepy world every now and then.  It's fun, amusing, and sometimes really educational!

The problem comes when it's your only diet.

People always remark on how awful it is when a person only looks at the sunshine and bubble aspects of life, but it's just as bad to stuff yourself down it the dark crevices of the world.

So people who refuse to look on the darkness: Don't be afraid.  Just because you look inside yourself and face the inevitable darkness of humanity doesn't mean that you'll never be totally happy again.  You can't be completely happy with yourself until you've discovered and accepted everything about yourself.

And people who roll their eyes at the lightness:  Don't.  Just don't.  Simply because you travel the shadowy roads with ease doesn't make you better than others.  It doesn't mean you have a better grip on reality.  Light has just as much substance and layers and Darkness.  Learn that, and.... you learn something!  That's always a good thing!

This has been Wonderland Junkets waxing philosophy junket-style.  Tune back in sometime for something else.

Some Kind Of Wonderful

I think I might have had a conversation with God.  Now, now, now, don't go rolling your eyes or moving onto another page.  I'm not crazy, nor am I going to be all preachy.

But I think the Holy Spirit sent me a message, in the form of an old man walking around the track. But hey, Divinity comes in all shapes and sizes.  I wasn't really thinking about religion when I started talking to him, and suddenly there I was, listening to a man in sweat pants tell me about how we need to pray to be born again and how heaven isn't outside of ourselves; it's inside each and everyone of us.

And then he said something that completely floored me.  He said, "No one can judge you.  You just keep on loving people and doing what you do.  Only God can judge.  All the rest don't matter."  He couldn't have known that is a constant worry of mine, nor could he have realized how much those words effected me, set me free.
It could very well be some sort of coincidence, but I prefer to think it was some kind of Wonderful.

God bless you, Jeff.  You've helped me more than you know.

A Little Something About Me

Sometimes, especially when school is involved, I get extremely stressed out.  Sometimes I get nauseous, and other times I am crawling underneath a desk bawling my eyes out.  In both cases, I tell myself that there is no reason to get so stressed, that I am doing fine, that everything is going to be okay, but it doesn't help.  Usually my mental pep talks exacerbate the problem, as I begin to berate myself for being so weak!

Thankfully, I am blessed with an incredibly family, a stalwart best friend, and a wonderful dear sir.  Unfortunately, my dear sir cannot always be there, nor can my best friend, but they offer wonderful words of comfort and love that help me infinitely more than my own can.  And then, of course, there is my family.  Since I live with my family, they are there not only to offer words, but to give hugs.

Hugs are magical.  I am a firm believer in the power of hugs.  Some of the worst days I have ever had were those without hugs.  There have been numerous times when I have forced myself to not feel sad, to push it away and hid it deep within; however, whenever I do that, my mother inevitably gives me a hug, and it immediately rises to the surface and gets cleaned way.  I don't mind that I'm not very good at hiding my feelings from others.  I think it's a healthier way to live.

Anyway, there's a little something about me:  I'm a physical person.  I feel and express emotion best through physical contact.  So if you ever meet me and start to tell me all the troubles in your life, don't get freaked out when I squeeze your arm or give you a hug.  I'm just letting you know that I care.

A Nod To Gerard Manly Hopkins

Glory be to God for cloudy days

And blustering winds, and red runny noses

And frigid, frozen, frosty air.

I shudder, yet I stop and praise

The glorious maker of holly and roses,

While mittens and jackets rush here and rush there.

Standing on the brown dead land

I look to the grey and roiling sky,

Exhaling a prayer with visible breath.

I stand in awe of the omnipotent hand

And the eye, the oh-so-wondrous eye,

That can see the beauty in death.

Beautiful day

Today is a lovely day.  It is one of those days that makes me glad to live in a place where the changing of the seasons is noticeable.  The sky is a bright blue, speckled with a few puffy clouds, and the sun is shining most jollily; however, the temperature is brisk and cool.  The difference between shade and sun is readily apparent.

I love these fall days.  The only thing that is slightly disappointing is that the trees haven't started adorning themselves yet.  They're still clinging to their beryl gowns.  Though that green is lovely, I cannot wait for the brilliant autumn fashion show. 

Come on, Trees!  It's time to start changing!  The sooner you change, the sooner my dear sir can come to me.

A Letter

Dear God,

I would just like to apologize to you for us humans.  We do a lot of stupid things when it comes to you.  The biggest one that comes to mind is killing.  We have killed many people in your name to further our own earthly ambitions.  Of course, some of the time, the people are just insane, but that's not your fault, which brings me to my main apology of this letter. 

I'm sorry that the human race blames you for every fault on the earth.  I'm sorry that so many people look at all the sorrow and suffering in the world and see that as proof that you don't exist, or if you do exist, that you don't really love us. 

People seem to forget that you are not a giant Santa Claus in the sky and will not magically swoop down and give us everything we want.  You are not our personal vending machine, where we put in prayers and receive miracles.  You are not going to solve all of our problems for us; life doesn't work like that. 

Now, I'll admit, it kind of sucks that you won't do that.  I mean, life is difficult and tough and hard, and it would be nice if you could just wave your hand and make all the problems go away, but, why should you clean up our mess?  You gave us free will; the mistakes in the world are caused by us, and we have to fix them. 

If you fixed our problems all the time, we would never learn anything; we would be mindless praising machines, and I don't think you want that.  If you did want us to be mindless praising machines, then why did you give us free will?  Some would say that you did it to test us, but I don't think that's right.  That seems like such a mean thing to do, and everything I've read and heard seems to agree that You Are Love.

I think the reason you gave us free will is that our choices mean so much more that way.  When we choose to love you and believe in you, we do not do it because we are forced to do so; that's not real love.  When we choose to love you, we do it because we want to love you.  That's the only way we can love you.

People say that if you can't solve our problems, then what good are you?  That sounds like an ignorant, spoiled teenager yelling at his parents because they won't buy him a car, doesn't it?  You've given us this Earth; you've given us free will; you've given us each other; and most of all, you've given us your Only Son. 

I'm sorry that we keep on clamoring for more.

One more thing, dear Lord.  I just want to thank you.  My faith is about the size of a mustard seed, and sometimes, it looked like that seed had died, but you didn't give up on me.  I'm still rather small and will probably never grow to the size of Peter or Paul, but I hope that my small faith gives you joy.

With the sincerest love and adoration,
Anne

PS.  Give my love to the Holy Spirit.