What Would It Look Like

The final day of the blogathon is already here. I am going to miss having a list to turn to every day for my writing topic. Oh well, it has been a fun little season.

Today’s prompt is one in which each individual’s response will vary vastly from one person to the next. Your life without the internet. What does it look like? I am really looking forward to my sister’s post over at Admissions of a Superhero. Her complicated relationship with the internet should afford some amusement. 

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We have become a society that is quite dependent on the technology we have. The convenience of the internet has greatly changed my life. And frankly, I love it.

The biggest way it has impacted my life is not with social media, or anything like that, it is with education. 

When I was in my first semester of college we had to do a session at the school library in which we learned how to find all of the books and various other sources we might need for our assignments. It was terrible. Don’t get me wrong, I am a book lover, and I love libraries. But doing research in a library is a drag. If I had to do the whole of my college writing within the parameters that were set before me in that first semester, I would not have enjoyed school nearly as much. God bless research using a search engine as opposed to the good old Dewey Decimal System. Additionally, I did not want to move away to finish school and hated the commute to CSU San Bernardino. Therefore the internet gave me the ability to do a large portion of my education in online classes.

Don’t even get me started on the wonderful convenience of paying bills online, buying your favorite album the minute it is released, the ability to watch you tube tutorials about anything, downloading your favorite show if you don’t have tv, or looking something up that you are curious about (I hear the extreme version of this is googlitis… yes it’s a thing… Google it :) ).

And to top the wonderfulness of it all off, it was because of the internet that I was able to start this happy little blog. Who knows the positive impact this has had in my life. My love of writing has been reawakened, I have learned to be less of a perfectionist and just write, I have learned to be disciplined in jotting down my ideas, I have learned so many simple elements of easy blog design, and I have met some fun like minded people in the blogosphere. It has definitely become a fun hobby for me. 

These are all conveniences that I could live without if I had to, but the internet certainly has impacted my life for the positive. However, we have to look to Solomon in cases such as these, “beware of all extremes.” Just because the internet is convenient does not mean you should use it all the time for everything. Sometimes it is still beneficial to use your brain to try to remember something in your memory palace as opposed to going straight to Google (or Bing if you are one of those).

And this concludes our January blogathon. It has been a fun month! Thank you to all of those who participated here and there. 

Link up below for the final day. What does your life look like without the internet?

Easier Said Than Done

Friday again. Wahoo! Blogathon number fifteen. The weeks of writing are just flying by! Today's prompt is a bit different than the others so far. A little bit of fiction. Write a very short piece of prose that begins with the phrase, "The night was replaying in her mind like an irritating pop song.”

I almost feel like I have to write a disclaimer today…. Listen people, I am actually a pretty decent writer. If I had taken more time on this I am sure I could have come up with something better. But that is the beauty of this blogathon. I just write. I don’t strive for perfection. I don’t get crazy about the little things. I am just having fun with it (and yes…. I used the word “damn” for those who dislike even the mildest of colorful metaphors, it just seemed like it needed it). I just wrote down the assigned sentence and started writing. I don’t know where this came from and I certainly don’t know where it is going. That is the beauty of a little chunk of prose. The writer doesn’t have to know. That is up to the imagination of the reader. 

Yeah this one is certainly easier said than done. But here goes....

The night was replaying in her mind like an irritating pop song. What was it about these events anyway that made her flesh crawl? The loud music, the mindless chatter, the hundreds of people suffocating in a tiny room. But this time was worse than it had ever been. Not because anything was particularly different…. But because she could not get it out of her head for the life of her.

She fiddled with the straps on her heels as she prepared to venture out on another day. Living the dream. She let out a humorless laugh at the thought. How come they don’t tell you the dream is really just that – a dream. 

It was just another Katy Perry song that one hates and yet somehow knows all the words to. Over and over it plays until every line is torture. The boss she had to schmooze, the balding guy who hit on her, the inappropriate jokes she had to laugh at. When would it end? 

And it hit her then with a horrifying and sobering revelation. It wouldn’t. Once the final chords play and she feels she has a moment to breathe, it will be just another song on another damn night. 

After all, this was her life. 

Want to try your hand at this fun little creative writing prompt? I am interested in reading. Link below!

Mercy Triumphs

How quickly the weekends come and go. Our blogathon prompt for today is to review a book or movie you have read/watched recently. 

I am not a huge movie watcher, therefore I decided a book was more up my alley. My reading of late has been rather somber, as I am tackling the heart wrenching Les Miserables. 

I have been thrust onto the emotional roller coaster which comes with reading Hugo’s work. Because this is such a vast book, it is separated into smaller volumes, and then within those, shorter books. He did a fine thing to break up his work in such a way, because each segment could be studied and learned from on its own, separate from the tragedy of the whole story. 

The wonderful deeds of the bishop, though so important, I fear will be but a brief ray of light as the book moves forward in all of its heartbreak. Therefore, I think I am going to review the virtues found in the first two books of volume one. The life of the Bishop and the first meeting of Jean Valjean. 

It was during the perusal of these sections that I felt I was on an emotional and spiritual journey. Oh, the Bishop. Every good deed that I have ever done becomes nothing, every Christian act or thought pales in light of the goodness of the Bishop. The self sacrifice, the love of mankind, the sincerity of heart…. he is truly an amazing character. 

It is such a simple concept that he has mastered. That which we are all supposed to strive to do. Love one another. The bishop ached for and loved people. He gave until it hurt… and then he gave some more. From the smallest to the greatest. No one was below him.

This is the man that we know when Jean Valjean, the sad victim of a crooked and judgmental society, is introduced. 

This Bishop’s character can be better understood through the words of his sister. He was not religious. He was not to be the judge of anyone. He was to love everyone. That is all. She states, “Is this not, indeed, to understand charity well? Is there not something truly evangelical in this delicacy which abstains from sermon, from moralizing, from allusions? And is it not the truest pity, when a man has a sore point, not to touch on it at all?”

How often have we beaten the proverbial Bible over someone’s head? The Bishop, knowing well the past of Jean Valjean, made a careful effort to avoid all subjects that would touch on his past. There is an example for us to follow of a good Christian man. 

It is a wonderful thing to see how one individual’s life changes another, and then how that man’s life goes and impacts hundreds, or thousands. Everything we do makes a difference. Whether good or bad, every act, word, or deed will affect another life.

The Bishop’s last words to Jean Valjean were simple, “Jean Valjean, my brother, you no longer belong to evil, but to good. It is your soul that I buy from you; I withdraw it from black thoughts and the spirit of perdition, and I give it to God.” And that is what he did. A few poignant words spoken at the right time, but above all, action, changed the course of Jean Valjean’s life.  

As long as society treated Jean Valjean like a scoundrel and a thief, what other recourse had he then to be a scoundrel and a thief? But when the bishop treated him like a fellow citizen, called him brother, and gave him hope for a future, he rose to the occasion.

I wish I could better describe the way in which this book has been impacting me. When I go to read…. I feel as if it hurts me. If the whole story stopped at the end of book two. We would see the goodness of the bishop, and we would see the life changing moment of Jean Valjean, and we would be happy in thinking he was going to go on and do good to others. 

And so my book review for today does end on a happy note, for I am not expanding on all of the heartbreak that is to come. I merely see how a man changed another's life because he did not judge, but showed mercy.

A lesson to be learned from this book that can be transferred to this life that we lead. Love goes a long way.  There are dark characters in this book, and yet the good characters shine bright in the darkness. This world we live in is flooded by darkness. If we would stop perpetuating evil by unloving actions,by showing mercy, and demonstrating the love of Jesus, perhaps light would begin to spread from one life to another instead, just as light spread from the bishop to Jean Valjean.

Read this book. It will break your heart, but light a fire inside of you all the same.

Have you read any spectacular books lately? Seen any good movies? Link below!

Worthy of Being Pleased

Day seven of the blogathon already. I don’t know about you, but the more I write every day, the easier it is for me. I think this is a good habit we are getting into :). Today’s prompt is to pick a quote and respond to it.

There are so many wonderful quotes that I could have picked… but I am afraid I landed back on the wonderful Jane Austen in the form of Pride and Prejudice (I know, I know. You are thinking. Really? Again? But I think that this book is a masterpiece that we can learn many valuable life lessons from!). I chose an excerpt that I love from the book. Darcy’s words.

“You showed me how insufficient were all my pretensions to please a woman worthy of being pleased.” (Part 3 Chapter 16)

Define “a woman worthy of being pleased?” To what end would a good man go to find such a woman. To what end would that same man go to secure such a woman for himself?

A woman worthy of being pleased must be something. The kind that we read about in these wonderful novels. The kind that are moral, good natured, intelligent, loving, generous, sweet, educated, and yes, accomplished. These are the kinds of women that are truly worthy of being pleased. 

And what would we ask of the men who would endeavor to seek our trust, our love, or commitment? We see a fine example of this in the hero of this tale, the wonderful Mr. Darcy. He looks inside himself and finds justice in the censure he received from the woman he loves. And then he allows her words to torture and change him. He bares inconvenience, embarrassment and disgust to secure the happiness of one to whom he cares nothing for. He himself pays the debt of the one he truly hates. He stands up for his woman when others look down upon her. He bares the inequality of the connection because she is worth it. He would do anything to make that woman love him. She so far beneath him in social status and fortune, yet he feels her to be so far above him in every other way. She is truly worth it. 

And so our hero is a fine example of what a man should be. He should go to the ends of the earth for the one he loves. A woman worthy of being pleased requires above and beyond the common way of courting a woman. She requires the wholehearted attention and proof of devotion that we see demonstrated in Mr. Darcy’s love for Elizabeth. 

What quote inspires or riles you? Link below!