Vanity is not Fair

The sign of a truly great book or movie is that emotion is created or stirred within the reader/watcher.

I try to get my students to appreciate literature in its ability to make the reader mourn a character never tangible, or laugh at an invisible event seen only in the mind's own eye. I also try to relay the value of literature when it makes the reader mad.

Emotion is good, and through literature, full emotions can be experienced.

"To Kill A Mockingbird" stirs up a sense of justice and anger for the lack of justice among citizens of Alabama.

"The Iliad" stirs pride for Hector as a hero, and hurt over his death. It makes the reader hate Achilles for abusing Hector, but then love him for his selflessness to save Briseis.

"Fahrenheit 451" makes the reader stop and consider the importance of history and literature as Ray Bradbury masterfully pens a stanza from "Dover Beach," whose theme laments the loss of faith among people, which, to Guy Montag, serves as a lamentation over the loss of knowledge and memory. This lamentation pushes Montag to redeem society of its ignorance, even though he loses everything in the process.

So many wonderful books provide examples of how to live, and so many novels point toward Christ. I love picking out themes and plots that point toward Truth.

But today, as I watched the Hollywood hit "Vanity Fair," I felt only anger. There was no justice, no grace, no lamenting loss and persevering to recover the things that fell away. There was only...selfishness. Greed. Dishonesty.

There was no love.

Thakeray's 1678 masterpiece has been bouncing around in my head all day, because it is only hopelessness.

If society lost justice, heroism, faith, and perseverance, then society would be "Vanity Fair," an endless flea market of cheap shots and selfish gain.

In my anger toward the movie, I realized how empty life could be if I lived as Rebecca Sharp or Rawden Crawley.

It would be meaningless. Desperate. Lost.

The English teacher in me needs some kind of point. Some kind of purpose.

Why write "Vanity Fair?"

You can read a summary here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanity_Fair_%28novel%29.

Your thoughts?

New Year, New Friends

I was actually nervous as I pulled away from our house today and drove the 7-mile drive along the river to our neighboring town. The new music teacher and I decided to get together, and I told Josh, "I'll either be back soon, which means it didn't go well, or I'll be gone a while, which means we hit it off."

I've sent Liz several notes this year, just trying to encourage her in her first year of teaching, and Tuesday she sent me an email titled, "Let's be friends." A few more emails, and we decided to meet for coffee.

Some of my favorite memories were made over coffee, including nothing but a friend, and time.

Four hours after Liz and I sat down, I decided I've finally made a friend here my heart resonates with, much like my friends from college and high school.

We talked about music, we talked about literature. We talked about education, culture shock in our small town, the need to be silly, and our love for games. We talked about God.

And I'm just thankful. God brought Josh and I here, and he knew I wanted a friend. It's awesome to see his faithfulness at work. I've been blessed with so many great friends throughout the years, and I'm excited that maybe I've stumbled upon another one. Here. It's been so hard to find a great friend here, in Kooskia.

But God is faithful.

And I am most assuredly delighted.