Moved to Tears by Books
My wife will tell you that I'm a very unemotional person. When our kids were little and the Disney cartoon Beauty and the Beast had just come out, she nicknamed me "Beast"; my son who was born shortly after the movie came out on video -- and who saw it about a hundred times -- was lovingly nicknamed "Beast Jr" by his mother.
All this is to say, that I don't cry much. Although, I have to tell you, I did a lot of throat clearing the first time I saw Beauty and the Beast, Free Willy and Homeward Bound.
Well, in the last several years, I've cried at several scenes in books:
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller, and
Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stow
The first book, I can't tell you about because it would give away a serious spoiler. Do yourself a favour: Read it. Especially if you're a male. It'll make you ashamed of our gender and wish you were a better man (pardon the cliche).
The second book, I don't mind telling you about because I'm only giving away one of many powerful "essays", as Donald Miller himself calls them. The scene that moved me to tears (let me be precise, here: a lump in my throat and water eyes... nothing actually made it to my cheek, but that's pretty big for me) was an anecdote about Miller's college days. He and some of his Christian friends, as a mean of "evangelism" on a very hedonistic campus, decided, on a whim, to set up a confessional booth. They didn't really think through why they were doing it or what they were hoping to accomplish, but the experiment actually morphed into the confessees turning into the confessors. That is, Miller and his Christian college friends confessed to hundreds of students -- and apologized -- for all the stupid, hurtful, and wrongful things Christians have done, in the name of Jesus, over the centuries.
The third book, I read because I'm cheap. Let me explain. My nephew Dan (a professional from California who works for Intel -- that's an inside joke for Dan if he's reading this) read one of my earlier posts about e-readers and, God bless him and his girlfriend! they sent me a Kindle for my 50th birthday. Anyhow, I've bought a few books, but, like I said, I'm pretty cheap so I've scoured the Kindle Amazon site for free books that I've always wanted to read. I ended up reading Uncle Tom's Cabin last week.
A side note: I read somewhere online that it's fallen out of favour because of the use of the n-word and because it stereotypes African-Americans. At the risk of sounding condescending, I wish all such people that call Mark Twain a racist or William Shakespeare a misogynist would take a first year University course in literature and learn about cultural determinism. I have news for those of us who judge the past with a made in the early 21st century measuring stick. We too will be judged in the future with a measuring stick that we can barely imagine.
Anyhow, I'm not going to tell you why Harriet Beecher Stowe's classic was so moving. Do yourself a third favour (the second favour being: read Donald Miller's Blue Like Jazz): read Uncle Tom's Cabin.
Here are some great quotes courtesy of www.kindle.amazon.com to which my highlights and notes are sent -- you gotta love e-readers!
"Fear nothing, George, for therefore are we sent into the world. If we would not meet trouble for a good cause, we were not worthy of our name."
"Religion! Is what you hear at church, religion? Is that which can bend and turn, and descend and ascend, to fit every crooked phase of selfish, worldly society, religion? Is that religion which is less scrupulous, less generous, less just, less considerate for man, than even my own ungodly, worldly, blinded nature? No! When I look for a religion, I must look for something above me, and not something beneath."
"what shall be said of one whose own heart, whose education, and the wants of society, have called in vain to some noble purpose; who has floated on, a dreamy, neutral spectator of the struggles, agonies, and wrongs of man, when he should have been a worker?"
"My view of Christianity is such," he added, "that I think no man can consistently profess it without throwing the whole weight of his being against this monstrous system of injustice that lies at the foundation of all our society; and, if need be, sacrificing himself in the battle.
All this is to say, that I don't cry much. Although, I have to tell you, I did a lot of throat clearing the first time I saw Beauty and the Beast, Free Willy and Homeward Bound.
Well, in the last several years, I've cried at several scenes in books:
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller, and
Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stow
The first book, I can't tell you about because it would give away a serious spoiler. Do yourself a favour: Read it. Especially if you're a male. It'll make you ashamed of our gender and wish you were a better man (pardon the cliche).
The second book, I don't mind telling you about because I'm only giving away one of many powerful "essays", as Donald Miller himself calls them. The scene that moved me to tears (let me be precise, here: a lump in my throat and water eyes... nothing actually made it to my cheek, but that's pretty big for me) was an anecdote about Miller's college days. He and some of his Christian friends, as a mean of "evangelism" on a very hedonistic campus, decided, on a whim, to set up a confessional booth. They didn't really think through why they were doing it or what they were hoping to accomplish, but the experiment actually morphed into the confessees turning into the confessors. That is, Miller and his Christian college friends confessed to hundreds of students -- and apologized -- for all the stupid, hurtful, and wrongful things Christians have done, in the name of Jesus, over the centuries.
The third book, I read because I'm cheap. Let me explain. My nephew Dan (a professional from California who works for Intel -- that's an inside joke for Dan if he's reading this) read one of my earlier posts about e-readers and, God bless him and his girlfriend! they sent me a Kindle for my 50th birthday. Anyhow, I've bought a few books, but, like I said, I'm pretty cheap so I've scoured the Kindle Amazon site for free books that I've always wanted to read. I ended up reading Uncle Tom's Cabin last week.
A side note: I read somewhere online that it's fallen out of favour because of the use of the n-word and because it stereotypes African-Americans. At the risk of sounding condescending, I wish all such people that call Mark Twain a racist or William Shakespeare a misogynist would take a first year University course in literature and learn about cultural determinism. I have news for those of us who judge the past with a made in the early 21st century measuring stick. We too will be judged in the future with a measuring stick that we can barely imagine.
Anyhow, I'm not going to tell you why Harriet Beecher Stowe's classic was so moving. Do yourself a third favour (the second favour being: read Donald Miller's Blue Like Jazz): read Uncle Tom's Cabin.
Here are some great quotes courtesy of www.kindle.amazon.com to which my highlights and notes are sent -- you gotta love e-readers!
"Fear nothing, George, for therefore are we sent into the world. If we would not meet trouble for a good cause, we were not worthy of our name."
"Religion! Is what you hear at church, religion? Is that which can bend and turn, and descend and ascend, to fit every crooked phase of selfish, worldly society, religion? Is that religion which is less scrupulous, less generous, less just, less considerate for man, than even my own ungodly, worldly, blinded nature? No! When I look for a religion, I must look for something above me, and not something beneath."
"what shall be said of one whose own heart, whose education, and the wants of society, have called in vain to some noble purpose; who has floated on, a dreamy, neutral spectator of the struggles, agonies, and wrongs of man, when he should have been a worker?"
"My view of Christianity is such," he added, "that I think no man can consistently profess it without throwing the whole weight of his being against this monstrous system of injustice that lies at the foundation of all our society; and, if need be, sacrificing himself in the battle.
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