My Growth Spurt This Year

Before I start, I would like to note that growing does not always mean learning something new, sometimes it means validating and becoming more assured in the things you believe. So this year, although I learned more about individuality, self-worth and justice than I thought there is to know, I think the most important thing that happened to me, is that I became more certain of the things I have known and believed before, whether by experiencing and thinking about them on a deeper level or by expanding my perspective.

I knew that parents are great blessings from God, which are not to be taken for granted, but treasured and their wisdom is worth attending to. This year while reading Things Fall Apart I grew in my certainty that God gives us parents to teach us how to live, and came to understanding that we are also to learn from them, from their virtues and vices, accept them and be thankful for them and to them. Okonkwo’s tragic example reaffirmed me in the fact that I should not resent my parents for the way they are, but to love them and thank them for doing everything in their ability and bringing me up so that I might become the person God wants me to be.

I knew that God is good and all his plans are for my prosperity. This year while I was reading The Plague, while being convicted with the darker side of life and the small amount of explanation and justification that we can think of in our small human minds for the torment and woes we experience, I reinvigorated my belief in the majesty, power, stability and unsurpassing wisdom and care of God for me and all human kind.

I strengthened in my belief in the necessity of second chances and forgiveness and began unraveling the mystery humanness and humbleness while reading about the Bishop in Les Miserables. While reading about Cossette’s affliction in the Thenardier household and Nora’s predicament with being a trinket of her husband, while aspiring to have worth and respect from others, I rejuvenated my belief in the importance of understanding others and valuing them not as “creatures”, but as masterpieces created in the image of a perfect God

I could not have been more blessed this year in this class. World Literature, through which Mr. O was my guide, gave me answers and questions, time and deadlines, freedom in creativity and restrictions in length, protection and exposure, to make me stronger, more sensitive and help me be affirmed in my convictions and the Truth that I know. 

Unified in Misery

What do you believe in? Who do you trust? What is the reality you live in? The answers to these questions hold on the main keys to discovering one’s personal identity. But even these questions, that play such a great role in our lives and self-identification, are affected by the values we hold to and those are affected by our unique experiences. But there an experience that unites us all together, there is something that each person, no matter who they are, no matter where they are, feels. You might have guessed what it is, but if you didn’t then it is loneliness, rejection and misery. Every one of us experiences those unpleasant emotions, and although this is uncomforting to hear, there is no way of escaping them. They are a consequence of our lives on this imperfect planet and more importantly, our sins.

            Every character in the book had a time when they felt forsaken and refused to be accepted by either the society as a whole or by certain individuals specifically, just like everyone does in real life. The questions that come up next are: “What does this experience mean?”, “What do we do with this experience?” Feeling lonely and miserable does not identify you as unacceptable, useless or worthless, but it rather signifies that you are normal and possess a reaction to neglect, depravity, intolerance, as well as to being excluded, over looked or treated unjustifiably, that is typical to everyone. What needs to be realized in this process is that although bad things happen to us, it is not always a result of our mistakes, but rather the result of the imperfect world we live in. This means that we should look to someone who is above this world and someone who has “overcome the world” (John 16:33) and that is Jesus Christ. If we do not choose to do this then as Grantaire said, “There is nothing for us to believe in. Drink is the only reality”.

As we can see, the decision to look to Christ comes only if we have a firm grasp and a clear recognition of our value and worth, for it is said we are “God's chosen ones, holy and beloved”( Colossians 3:12-14), “Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows” (Luke 12:6-7), ““I will never leave you nor forsake you”( Hebrews 13:5). 

If God loves, values and tells you about it, how can you let anyone or anything convince you otherwise?

Value in Personality

After five hundred eighty six pages of Les Mis, the theme of a person’s worth is still a major part of the book and still makes me think more deeply about it. This time I focused on a different quote, about a different person, but that has direct connection to every other part of the book, “having the good sense, while very conscious of the royal blood in his veins, to value himself at his true worth”. This is speaking of the French king, Louis- Philippe, and how he did not find the source of his value in his ancestry. Previously I stressed the point that we must, in order to be fulfilled and fulfill others, treasure ourselves, but this is when the question arises. When comes the moment to reject some of the value placed in us, by those around us? In this quote, after going over it for some time, I found the answer.

A king is usually seen as a person that had great worth and great importance, just because he is king. The quote above on the other hand is talking about the true worth of a king. What the quote explains to us is that Louis-Philippe valued himself for who he was, not what he was. He did not root his value in his “divine right”, but rather in himself, as an individual. He saw his worth not in the title that he received because he was born into a family that was entitled to do so, but in the person became through his choices, hard work and perseverance.  

We as humans should treasure ourselves for who we are, but sometimes we decide that our value is greater than that of another person because we look better, study harder or know more. This is a big mistake and in this case we need to catch ourselves and instead follow the example of the French king. We should remember what our true worth is in, it is in Christ our Lord, in our Redeemer. We also have to be vigilant not to treat others as less deserving of love, compassion and admiration, just because of the circumstances of their birth or life.  

Accepting and Forgiving... YOURSELF

More pages, more letters and more ideas. One of the main ideas I faced this past week during the reading of Les Mis is acceptance. However, this acceptance is not talking only and mostly about being understanding and tolerant of others, but being able to accept yourself. Being able to accept who you are. This type of acceptance is even more vital in our everyday lives than the acceptance of others, because if you cannot love yourself and forgive yourself, then there is no chance that you will be able to do this for others. This is not the only reason we should accept ourselves. If you cannot accept yourself, you cannot live your life on Earth in peace and do not have a chance to find joy and completion. You also might very well, rob those around you of happiness.

The two examples that prove this statement both come from the books sophomores read this year, Things Fall Apart and Les Misérables. The first example, from the first book, is Okonkwo, a person of power and influence in one of the tribes in Nigeria. His father was poor, lazy and never repaid his debts. Okonkwo, although a grown up man, was not be able to accept his father and was not able to accept that he is father’s son. Throughout the book we see him trying to run away from his heritage and trying to escape from the man he knows himself to be. I am not going to spoil the book for you, so I will just say that Okonkwo, his family and his tribe suffer horribly, because Okonkwo cannot accept himself. On the other hand we have Jean Valjean from Les Misérables. He knows himself to be a convict and a thief. He remembers that he robbed the one man that showed him compassion and a small boy that had to earn his living. He struggles with himself and his criminal past. However, eventually, he is able to accept and forgive himself, as well as gain wisdom from the hard circumstances he goes through. Because of the forgiveness that lives in him, he goes on with life. He applies the things he learned in his hardships and through this brings prosperity to a whole region of France, as well as makes life better for all those around him. He brings salvation to those in need of material things and to those in need of a second chance.

This demonstrates how important it is to accept and forgive ourselves. Every one of us should be ready for the missteps that we will, with no doubt, make, but we also must be ready to forgive ourselves for them. No one is perfect, but our mistakes provide a step for us to rise higher, become better and wiser. If we are ready to accept ourselves for who we really are others will be too.

Worth in the Image of God

Another week of reading Les Mis has passed and as it passed it left me with more questions and more thoughts on things I did not dwell on before.  Another quote has struck me and made me think, “… he is dealing with such wary animals as a wolf or a convict”.  What causes the speaker to view this certain individual unworthy of being called a human being? When are people compared to animals and why this often can be offensive? And when we are compared to animals, why does this hurt our feelings? And since it does, what is the difference between us and animals?

Well first of all, the convict mentioned in this quote is Jean Valjean and he was imprisoned for nineteen years for stealing a loaf of bread and a couple of escape attempts. This is what he had done to lose the “privilege” of being referred to as human. But did these actions actually diminish his humanness? No. He is still a man created in the image of God. He is still, no matter what loved by God and nothing can change this. Yes, he did steal and stealing is a sin, but he is still a child of God. This is one of the reasons the Theory of Evolution is twice as bad, as it seems at first glance. The first claim evolution makes is that there is no God and that all of creation was a mere accident. But it also claims that we, humans, are accidents and have evolved from apes. A belief like this takes away from a man’s uniqueness and diminished the full meaning and worth of a man, in the image of God.

Men are usually compared to animals or called animals when displaying behavior others deem unworthy of a human or because they once behaved that way and now that cannot be forgotten. This comparison is offensive, because everyone deep down inside knows that there is something important and crucial that separates us from animals. This crucial difference is that we were created in the image of God. We are created in God’s image and we can have a relationship with our Creator. This is the reason we take offense in being compared to an animal of any kind and even those who might not believe that we were created in God’s image, feel the truth of this statement echo in all their being once they have been called a “dog” or a “donkey”.

Hey Mr.O, I've Got Something to Say and Language in which to Say it!

                                                           Best Paper                    
                                                  Serving Truth Right

Would you like to live all your life without light, surrounded only by darkness and traps that you stubble into one by one, because you cannot see the right and safe path? This is what awaits anyone who lives his life without the truth, in captivity of lies. For others this fruitless life can be pushed upon them, when those surrounding them tell them the truth, but in a deleterious way- this will drive the listeners to insanity. So the following question arises: how should we share the truth with our loved ones, in order to help them live a life full of light and love? By looking at the symbols of the two different synagogues and their lighting, in chapters 7 and 18 of The Chosen, we can answer this question, and see that the way truth is taught and the environment in which the truth is taught, greatly affect an individual, as well as his life now and in the future; this is important because the knowledge of this issue is crucial, in order for us to live a thrilling life and see our loved ones blessed with joy.

The eagerness with which one strives to know the truth and his ability to accept it, greatly depends on the way the truth is served to the individual, whether one will enjoy it or hate it. A quote from chapter can serve as a great metaphor, “the naked light bulbs seemed ugly”(280). Once you think about it deeper you realize the depth of this statement. First you must imagine that you have been living with electricity your whole life, but if it goes out during the night you are pinned to one spot not daring to move. Once the light goes on you are filled with relief and a sense of peace. From this example we can conclude that light and any lamp that shades it, is a wonderful thing that brings comfort in darkness. So what does it take for a light bulb to start looking ugly? The fact that the light bulb is naked plays the main role. The presentation of truth as a light bulb is profound and substantial, because it clearly illustrates that if truth is exposed to someone nakedly, with no love, compassion or sympathy, it is agonizing for them, just like a light bulb with no lamp shade will burn the eyes of anyone who looks up at it. This proves that the way truth is unmasked before someone is what will either reconcile or destroy a person’s life, and maybe not the truth itself.

The environment in which we receive the truth can affect our welcome for it, much more than the truth we receive itself. In The Chosen two types of the synagogues are described. The first type is “…badly lighted, musty rooms, with benches or chairs crowded together and with windows that seemed always to be closed…”(112), and the second type, the one Reuven goes to, is described as follows: “… a large grocery store…, the sun shown in through the uncurtained portion of the glass, and I loved to sit there on a Shabbat morning, with the gold of the sun on the leaves of my prayer book, and pray”(112). Each of these two synagogues represents an environment in which truth can be taught to an individual. In the symbol of first synagogue and the light in it we can see that even though truth is taught, there isn’t enough light, which in this passage, is a symbol for love, present in order for the truth to have a positive effect in a person’s life. We can also see that the synagogue does not provide enough space, which can be seen as a metaphor for spiritual space, for an individual to assimilate truth and incorporate it into their lives. In comparison with the first synagogue, Reuven’s synagogue is a large, spacious room, which has plenty of light. Sitting and praying in this synagogue brings joy and satisfaction to Reuven. This is not only because of the physical characteristic described above, but because there is enough love demonstrated in the environment, as well as emotional and spiritual space to meet the needs of Reuven, to give him freedom to accept the tough and troublesome truth of the world that surrounds him. In all of this we can clearly see, that the setting in which the truth is presented to us, might have a greater impact than the truth in its essence.

The understanding of the concept that the way truth is laid out and the environment in which this is done, might have more lasting effects, for the person, than the truth, which is revealed. This concept is pivotal in how we share the truth with those around us, and will define whether or not we bring healing to those we love and care about. The concept is essential for us if we want to be witnesses of Christ’s love and compassion, not the society’s mockery and indifference. All of us have to make the decision to apply this to our lives and afterward live joyously, as well as bring joy and comfort to others. The sooner we make this decision, the brighter we can shine and more significantly impact those who desperately need our help. What is more important is that this concept, if we choose to live it out, will make us more like Christ. That is what our goal as Christians is, therefore, this concept, if acted upon, will help us succeed in the purpose God gave us. 

Sacred in Christ

Well, this week I started reading Les Miserables. It is a great book and has many important, vital things to think about and discuss in the classroom or with friends, since they are applicable to all of us. One of these things was a quote that I did not really talk over with anyone, but that stuck in my mind and I have not been able to silence it in my mind ever since, it is as follows: “Nothing being sacred to him, he had taken up smoking”. For some reason this stuck with me, so I thought more in depth about it. This quote is talking about a fellow named Tholomyes, who is an example of a person you could have seen walking down the street back then in France and a person you can see walking down the street today in Russia. A type of person that has been disappointed in life, mankind or society, therefore not able to see the value behind a person and a person’s life. None of the things that had disappointed him he found sacred and worthy of the struggle to keep them in good condition, so he gave up, he gave up on others and since he was disappointed in himself, he gave up on himself. He gave up on trying to be good, trying to save goodness and worthiness in himself and stopped believing that there is goodness and selflessness in others. He did not see any value in his life and health, which is why he started smoking.  After experiencing disappointments and let downs he lost track of his personal worth and the worth of others. When Tholomyes gave up on himself, he did not only hinder himself, but his girlfriend Fantine too. He not only ruined his only real shot at happiness and meaning in life, but deprived her of that as well. So think about it and think about it hard before giving up on yourself, because you will cripple not only yourself, but those around you too.

Today I started praying that people would not forget, and those that do not know, would learn that they are worthy. You and I are worthy of love, compassion, sacrifice, forgiveness and second chances. I also plead with everyone not to give up on themselves, no matter what and no matter who. I plead with you not to discard yourself, even when others do, because you are priceless. You and I were bought with the blood of the Son of Man and if he did not discard us, what right do we have to throw ourselves away?