Large Nobility

On my mother’s desk is the following quote by Abraham Lincoln, “We should be too big to take offense and too noble to give it.”

Today's post comes from observing how a major incident costing many people their jobs escalated from an unwise but relatively minor comment made in a meeting. How many troubles would be avoided if we would ignore offensive things said by others and sought to minimize the opportunities for others to take offense at our words. In today’s culture, the burden for avoiding conflict lies almost exclusively with the speaker and the hearers are rarely expected to let things slide by. In fact, much of the “politically correct” mentality seeks to hunt for any potential opportunity to infer offense in someone’s words. Author intent and gracious forgiveness are not options. To me, what is even more diabolical is when a hearer is offended on behalf of some hypothetical person not even present who might be offended had they heard the comment.

Kidnapped

I just finished Robert Louis Stevenson’s Kidnapped for the first time. Amazing story! I listened to the unabridged audio version, and that made it all the better. It takes place in Scotland in the mid 1700’s, so all of the characters speak with a deep Scottish brogue and dialect, so getting to hear it added depth and richness to the experience. Since I listen to books in the car, I was always eager to get in to head to my next destination so I could hear the next part of the story.

For those that don’t know, it is about a 17 year old boy, David, who seeks out his rich miserly uncle when his father dies. The uncle first tries to set up a fatal accident, then sells him to a ship captain to be sold as a white slave in the colonies (didn’t realize there were white slaves over here until this story—now there’s a field of historical study that has been largely ignored!). The ship wrecks, and he finds his way back across Scotland, during which time he’s framed for killing a royal official, and so on…

The characters have depth, with few being cardboard. There is action, new vistas, a new culture and time period, the journey motif, loss and restoration, and so on. It is simply good literature.

So why post about it? Ecclesiastes 12:12 says “Of the making of many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness to the flesh.” (A favorite verse to share with students before finals!)

How does one go about selecting a few from the vast library of human literature to require students to read? With the truly limited number of possible plots to stories, how does one select the best ones? What makes a book enduring?

C.S. Lewis argued that the stories that endure are those that point to the True Story of Christ—stories that accurately tell of the human condition and point to God’s solution for it, stories that reflect Jeremiah 29:11, “’For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord. ‘Plans to give you a hope and a future.’”

I will add that the enduring stories are ones that not only show our depravity and fallenness, but also show the nobility of our Divine origin—the imago Dei. Fallenness without nobility breeds despair. Nobility without fallenness is empty. Only when the two are brought together and strive with one another can the reader find identity and then hope.

A people who have forgotten how to tell stories have lost their soul, for telling stories is a spiritual activity. The story both engages and bypasses our minds, planting seeds in our souls. Nobility and courage are not taught in a textbook, but birthed by inspirational example quickening the imago Dei that lies dormant in our hearts. Stories, whether true or not, that demonstrate the best that is human serve to show us our higher selves in the context of temptations towards baser behaviour, and teach us that some rewards, the best rewards, are obtained even when we lose the earthly struggles while winning the battles for character, righteousness, and goodness.

The best stories, perhaps, are those that teach us by example that it does not profit us to gain the whole world if it costs us our souls, and that if we lose our lives for Christ’s sake, we will gain more than the world can offer.

“It's a far, far better thing I do than I have ever done. It's a far, far better rest I go to than I have ever known.”                                   Sydney Carton, A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens

SDG

We Are Not Alone

My cousin is a zookeeper. She mostly works with large animals. She’s one of those who tends to like animals better than people, because of the things people ask and do. She hates working over Spring Break because the crowds are so heavy, the keepers are pulled in to help with concessions. She shared several recent stories over dinner.

Today someone threw a very nice piece of food into the lions’ den. Fortunately, they’d already been fed, so they sniffed, then ignored it. Long story short, the keepers can’t go in to fetch the contraband until the lions are fed tomorrow, so they have no idea if the ‘donor’ spiked it or not.

Another time, a visitor came up and pointed at a rhinoceros and declared, “That’s a hippo, isn’t it?” “No, it’s a rhino,” my cousin gently corrected. “No, it’s a hippo!” Long story short, the visitor concluded, “Rhinos live in rivers and hippos live on land.” My cousin walked off before saying something she’d regret.

Recently, maybe today, a 30-something woman asked Chris what they fed the lions. “Meat” was her reply. The woman asked, “What kind of meat?” “Animal meat.” The woman smiled, looking pleased, “I thought so.” My cousin walked off before saying something she’d regret.

There were several other anecdotes shared that revealed the cluelessness she regularly encounters. It made me realize that we educators are not alone in the world when it comes to dealing with bizarre human behaviour.

The catch is that whenever I think about how silly people can be, I wonder about God’s perspective. He created them and loves them enough to have sent Christ down for ALL of us. How silly do I look to Him sometimes (often??)? He made us, knowing how foolish we can be, and also how noble. It reminds me of the Dufflepuds in C.S. Lewis’ Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and of his quote from 1949’s The Weight of Glory, “You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations—these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit—immortal horrors or everlasting splendours.”

No one is a mere mortal…That we “come from the Lord Adam and the Lady Eve..is both honour enough to erect the head of the poorest beggar, and shame enough to bow the shoulders of the greatest emperor on earth.” (from Prince Caspian)

Beggar to emperor, idiot to savant—No mere mortals are we…

SDG