This book worked tricks on me. I found myself reading the same chapter again and again. And every time I read it – it presents a different meaning. Perhaps deeper and unexpected. I would dive into inner thoughts as the writer explores classic novels and exposes the moral virtues that each story reveals, from Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice to the Death of Ivan Ilych by Leo Tolstoy.
My personal favorite was chapter 11 on kindness, a virtue taught from the book, “Tenth of December” by George Saunders. The story is about the day a boy named Robin and a 53-year-old man named Don converged pathways in the woods. Robin found a coat following the tracks in the snow and decided to find its freezing owner.
Don was terminally ill and decided to end his life that day, the boy on the scene was not part of his plan. So, he decided to spare the boy the trauma of seeing his dead body. And in doing so, he saw the consequence of what might have happened if the boy was not there. He also saw the pain he would be inflicting on his family. He thought that taking his own life would be heroic by sparing his family of the ugly mess of taking care of him.
On thinking about this story, it also tells me that sometimes we tend to see kindness in an angle of giving to others but not so much about on the receiving end of it. I took this story and theory to heart as I needed to go through a medical procedure and needed a ride to get there and back home. I found it hard to ask for people to give me a ride. But I took the courage to ask because of the virus and they were glad to take and pick me up.
That is just one of my epiphanies on reading this book and on reading well. It has the power to expand my thinking and heart muscles that leads to action, whether doing nothing or doing something, or having someone do something kind for us. Reading this gave me the permission to be kind. The receiving side of kindness. And may I add that a book creates a deeper meaning when it becomes personal.
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