Victor Hugo the famed French author of Les Misérables was one of those authors.. that took up the cause of the poor, the oppressed, time and time again revealed injustice in his world. His works, directly challenged the powerful and wealthy at every turn.
What we read matters, my Momma like to say we are what we read. Fill yourself with great books Little Jess. Filled yourself with those books, and you'll never be hungry. It took years to understand the hungry part(-:
It is no surprise to me that Thomas Piketty the renowned French Economist who wrote that bestseller "Capital in the Twenty-First Century." that so clearly laid out that democracy's biggest threat does not come from without, but from within. The larger our economic Inequalities the larger our discontent that will undermine our democratic values. When you read Capital you'll find Victor Hugo weaved throughout the book, because Piketty understands great literature opens the heart, and while nonfiction may open the mind, you learn nothing without the opening of your heart. Read the old books again, read the great books again, trust me we are always wiswer on the second or third read.
If you love Les Misérables the play, the movie, but have not read Les Misérables... than you have missed the hundreds of pages that build up his characters. Characters like Bishop Myrie. Hugo dedicated a whole chapter to the Bishop's character...so we could accept his treatment of Valjean who robbed him to lying for him to the police... "Valjean, forget not, never forget that you have promised me to use this silver to become an honest man.... Jean Valjean, my brother: you belong no longer to evil, but to good. It is your soul that I am buying for you." If you have not read the book, than you would have missed how those silver candlesticks Valjean took were the Bishop's and his sister's greatest treasure. Hugo always built his characters deep to help explain their actions, but more to let us see into their souls. Then we are able see deep within them to that place that makes one act Noblel or vilely in the first place.
Reading those great books inspires us to be more, do more, become more. Trust me friends, my activism is deeply rooted in the books I have read. I am what I have read. You might say when Jesse marches for a cause? He is never alone, you'll find those great books on his left and his right.
I love reading Victor Hugo's books. My plan this summer is to revisit Quasimodo that famous hunchback. Who is so publicly ostracized, whipped, to discover that bell-ringer of Notre-Dame for the first time once again. I need to revisit Quasimondo, to understand how one act of kindness offers us the possibility to be transformed...to love, to fight, to become that unlikely hero that inspires all. I need love that character so visually deformed that all who see him, turn away, and despise him. I need to live that sanctuary of the human heart. I see to again learn how to truly see the beauty of another human being means to understand what makes us beautiful has nothing to do with what is on the outside, but what is on the inside. Quasimondo helps me see what real beauty is...for could any man love from afar as purely as him. Could any man demonstrate how loves sacrifices, love protects, and love defends no matter what the cost? I need to feed my soul some Quasimondo this summer.
A Walking Man secret, it's not the degrees I hold, but the books I have read over and over again that move me to fight injustice. That help me love more, do more, and strive to be more. It's the books people that make the man, not the clothes.
Victor Hugo said: “Not being heard is no reason for silence.”
I reject silence, I reject apathy, I reject indifference, and
I reject hate.
Because, I have these books lining my soul, give me the courage to act humanity. Read the books that break the safety of silence. Read the ones that make you shout, make you cry, that will make you question the world as it is. For these are the books that will help you build as it should be.
Peace, love, joy, and read brothers and sisters,
Jesse The Walking Man Turner
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| We are what we read
If you like to listen to the song that inspired my walk in the rain over the Avon Mountain this morning...It's "Mr. Wendal" by Arrested Development... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyDjRd0Tjss
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