Out of some okay books

Seeking learning and wisdom out of the best books is a noble goal, if not a lot of pressure, but helpful ideas can come from all kinds of places.

I just finished reading all of Andrea Davis Pinkney's books --  to the extent that is possible -- after starting in February of 2022. There will be more about that in Friday's post on sporkful.blogspot.com.

The reading I did included two anthologies, so what I am going to write about was not written by her, but I found it because of her.

Anthologies are always kind of a mixed bag anyway, but really, it is about the thoughts.

From The Creativity Project: An Awesometastic Story Collection (2018), invited participants each submitted one writing prompt and responded to another. Someone had a prompt about advice for a newly dead person from someone who had been dead longer. I regret not having either author's name.

In this story, a newly dead man is not sure whether he is in Heaven or Hell. His advisor explains that he is -- at his most beautiful -- going to revisit the moment of his life when he was ugliest, and see how it could be different, and get a chance to do things better. Hell can become Heaven.

In this case, his most beautiful was during his final illness, telling his wife that he loved her and that he was sorry he had not been a better husband. His ugliest was when he harassed a women wearing hijab on a train. His guide just happened to be the woman who reached out to the target of his harassment, distracting and deflecting the situation.

(I was kind of dreading that outcome because Portland has a really bad example of Islamophobic harassment on a train turning deadly, but this was not like that. It may still have been inspired by that.)

In Be Careful What You Wish For: Ten Stories About Wishes, (2007) there is a school where all the sixth graders get to participate in "Wish Week", where whatever wish you commit to will come true. That story is by Gail Carson Levine.

One girl has a hard time committing to a wish, signing hers late, but finally settles on everyone having to walk in the shoes of someone they have hurt. While there is a literal aspect to the wish, with people actually finding the shoes of others on their feet, the metaphor is real also, with new understanding and sympathy coming with that.

I read the two relatively close together, and while I was thinking of how we don't look inward enough... that maybe we need to ask ourselves harder questions.

There are some potential questions here.

Whom have you hurt? How did that affect them?

When have you been ugliest?

When have you been at your most beautiful?

Can you apply some of that beauty to some of that ugliness, and make things better?