Living-Deliberately.com

Apparently this compute likes to have it’s buttons stroked. After hours of trying to get the thing to admit it had a power source, I sat running my fingers over the external buttons on the CPU, trying to figure out how we were going to get two new businesses up and running without a computer, when AHA! On the lights came and the little beast woke up.

So , here I am, typing what occurred to me while I was driving to Knoxville today, taking Celia over to a friend’s home. Earlier in the morning my friend Jennifer and I were talking about the evils of grammar lessons and diagraming sentences. We were trying to figure out what possible purpose such a break down could have and pretty much came to the conclusion that avid readers didn’t need to have that kind of painstaking analytical reduction. We know what something is “about”.

And then, we compared our reading histories. We both love to read and both cut our teeth on serial fiction…Sweet Valley High, Nancy Drew Mysteries, etc. This is on the forefront of our minds here at the Graham house, as Andrew is old enough to want to latch on to these easy reads that hook and carry you along. And, I guess they have thier place….the reader gets the satisfaction of having completed a big book, which then hopefully gives them confidence to up it a knotch to something more difficult.

Or not. There are readers out there who never move on. Just like there are those who never eat more than junk food and sweets. Candy….”doesnt’ have to have a point” as they say in Willy Wonka. And, as my last post indicates, I think pointless candy, both mind and edible, has a place. But a steady diet of it makes the mind and body weak and sick.

What might a sick and weak mind look like? Well, that diagramming conversation and the seeming meaninglessness of it came crashing in. That kind of breakdown helps readers figure out WHO is doing WHAT and HOW. It helps with discernment. It helps to discover what something is really ABOUT, even if that isn’t immediately clear.

One tangent we got into in our book conversation today was how to determine the appropriateness of books for children. Harry Potter came up, so did all that sentimental serial fiction from our past, and so did other things like modern christian fiction, dark writing like the Flowers in the Attic series, and many others.

And it occurred to me: I’d rather have the clearly defined light and dark orphaned boy looking for love and salvation while at boarding school story of Harry Potter in my kids’ hands than some of that “light serial” stuff of my past with it’s subtle and disguised value influence…the pink and happy faces all scrubbed clean but with aspirations and lifestyles that are on a destructive path. Or take the repetitive formula of books like Nancy Drew. Read 3 of them and you can pretty much solve any case. It’s like taking a walk and being mindful not to work up a sweat. Some of the women’s fiction is just as quietly offensive…churning out whinning women who are melodramatic and overly emotional.

Books have incredible power. Any reader is no doubt gonna stumble on some duds along the collection of great ones. Candy has it’s place but so does meat, milk, and bread. Don’t forget fiber and vegetables full of nutritents. Real work outs that cause excertion and concentration. I guess we shouldn’t assume that just because something has a shiny, happy cover, claims to be christian, or even just relaxing that it’s necessarily good *or* harmful. Or, in the case of Don blankety-blank Quixote, that just because it’s a classic that it’s any good either! Stuff that looks dark may not be. Learn what things are ABOUT.

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