Thursday, September 06, 2007

The Kite Runner...


There are two things that come to mind as I close up this book. Let me see if I can express them in some comprehensible way. First, there are (thankfully, in my opinion) books written that explore some of the real horror and pain that can happen in the human condition; books like Les Miserables and books like The Tale of Two Cities. This is a book in that vein.
It is important that we have these books especially now when every James Bond film and so very many others glorify violence. What I mean by "glorify" is that we make a hero out of the person who gets the biggest body count. What we don’t see is the reality of violence. Les Miserables, while it is a work of fiction, still is a book of many truths one being that it gives us the reality of violence. We see the consequences of unkindness, of selfishness, of pride, and of ignorance. The Kite Runner shows the reality of violence especially that violence committed against children.
There are some people who can’t read these kinds of books. They are a downer. But, this is what I think. Once, in the mall, I saw a teenager whose face had been burned away in some horrible accident. The intuitive thing to do was look away. As I drove home, I thought I’d made a mistake. The kind thing to do would have been to look him right in the eye and to smile in order to say, "I have seen that this horrible thing has happened to you, but you are noticed, you are still a part, you are a person, I see you, I know that you have suffered and I respect that you have come through a survivor. You are valuable."
I was taught that I am everyone’s neighbor. I was taught that I must strengthen the weak, lift the arms that hang down, to morn with those that morn and comfort the comfortless. How can I do that if I cannot bear to even glance, not go through it, but even to glance at pain another person may have lived through.
I once visited Dachau; not an experience I wish to repeat, but I want my daughter to see it. I glimpsed the reality of violence. I glimpsed pure evil.
If I and we can’t even glance at it, how can we keep our society from repeating the mistakes and the sins that cause so much of the horror and the pain in the world.
The following versus are sacred scripture to me:
"Teach ye diligently.. Of things both in heaven and in the earth, and under the earth; things which have been, things which are, things which must shortly come to pass; things which are at home, things which are abroad; the wars and the perplexities of the nations, and the judgments which are on the land; and a knowledge also of countries and of kingdoms– that ye may be prepared in all things." Doctrine and Covenants 88:78-80
There probably is not a topic that I would rather look away from more than the one in this book, but I am glad that I read on. I hope that the world will read this book and others like it and that these books will convince the world that we do not value our children enough. We simply don’t. If we did, we would never allow these kinds of things to happen.
Allowing it to happen brings me to my last point. For me, this is why I believe our troops should be in Afghanistan and in Iraq. I know that our military is stretched too thin. I know that we can’t be everywhere there is suffering, but we are already in these two countries. Lets stay. Lets stay until there is some form of stable government that can make children a priority again.
I also loved this book for its humanity and for its depth of feeling in human terms. I can’t imagine that this book would not resonate with most everyone. Who has not needed to forgive or to be forgiven or to forgive themselves?
I liked this line so very much. "...I wondered if that was how forgiveness budded, not with the fanfare of epiphany, but with pain gathering its things, packing up, and slipping away unannounced in the middle of the night."

9 comments:

kelly said...

such beautiful words. thankyou for sharing your insights with all of us. i especially liked when you said: I was taught that I am everyone’s neighbor. I was taught that I must strengthen the weak, lift the arms that hang down, to morn with those that morn and comfort the comfortless. How can I do that if I cannot bear to even glance, not go through it, but even to glance at the horror another person may have lived through.

I hope that when my children have grown, they too will realize that i have tried to teach them these lessons.

Shelese said...

great review once again Tiff! I love that scripture you referenced... it seemed brand new to me.
Awesome line about forgivness and pain packing it's bags. I love that.

azfamily said...

Tiffany, it's your old neighbor from across the street who moved to NJ here-we're in AZ as planned now and loving life so much. I love your blog, it brings a smile and joy everytime I look at it. I tell people about you all the time-you are such a treasure!

I had to comment because I just finished A Thousand Splendid Suns by the same author. Very few books bring me to those deep true tears-it is a gem! Take care! Julie

love.boxes said...

Dear Julie,

I can't tell you how fun it is to hear from you. I think about you all the time. You took care of us even as you left. Becky and Brent are so nice, but we miss you all.

I'm so glad to hear that AZ is treating you all well. I'm on the wait list (library) for A Thousand Splendid Suns and am anxious to read it. Keep it touch!

Love, Tiffany

Shauna said...

Great post. Thank you for your well thought out words. Your reviews are always a pleasure to read!

Michelle said...

Your english degree is showing girl! Great review, I wish I was so eloquent! I have that one on my list at the library now too. It is hard to sike yourself up to read that sort of book but I am usually glad I did. Oh, and witchy poo finally made it out of here on her way to you today!

Anonymous said...

Wow, powerfully beautiful post and that last quote just took my breath away.

I love to read but don't have a lot of time for leisure reading these days (um, unless bloghopping counts ;)), but I'm definitely putting that one on my To Read Someday list, based on that quote alone.

Thank you for sharing.

Janice said...

I have started this book twice and never been able to get through it.

k8 said...

great review. what a lovely way to explain why sometimes we need to be exposed to things that are ugly.