I finished Snickets 'The Austere Academy' yesterday evening. It's definitely the best book yet. His dedication was once again priceless (For Beatrice - You will always be in my heart, in my mind, and in your grave.), and he introduced some new characters worth caring about, which he hadn't really done since Book 2 (The Reptile Room). It's a strange experience sometimes, reading those books, because you find yourself taking comfort in the smallest turns of good fortune. You are content, to twist the biblical phrase, to be given a stone instead of a scorpion. In most books, ridding ones room of a harmless fungi, having a quiet afternoon at a library, or talking to a friend during a horrible violin concert would not count as any kind of highlight. But in the world of the Baudelaires, these few events that are not altogether nasty and unlucky hold a great deal more meaning.
I think this principle may work in a similar way in the real world: those who have much less than others are content with some of the small things in life that the rest of us ignore. I know that's a blanket concept and there are exceptions to the rule et cetera et cetera, but just imagine if those of us who are 'well off' (friends, family, toys, enviroment, food...) began to acknowlege, at least, the little priviliges in our lives that more people than we'd like to think miss out on. It would be tempting to say that then the world would be a better place - and maybe it would. Don't shake your heads, cynics. Try it. If it's world peace everyone's crying out for, perhaps we should look closer to home: are we at peace?
No comments:
Post a Comment