  Spiritual
This week: What I Learned from The Giver Edited by: Dawn Embers  
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An Elf (written) Spiritual Newsletter
The book, The Giver, gives a great lesson and it was a book I enjoyed as a teen, so for the newsletter I'm looking back on what it taught me. |
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Many years ago, back when I was in school, we had to read The Giver by Lois Lowry. While there were some books I didn't like that got assigned in the many English classes we had to take growing up, The Giver has always been one of my favorites. I never knew there was a series attached and I haven't seen the movie, but to this day I still appreciate the lesson learned from the tale.
I liked the story because it was well written. The world was interesting and the main character held my attention in the right way. I never needed another book after it and even though the end leaves the reader with an unanswered question, that was okay. It's one of the few books that managed to pull off that kind of ending. And it's an interesting idea, all of the world and the characters.
It kind of made sense, some of the world restrictions, if you think about it. Having specific areas where climate can be controlled to ensure food growth and not having to deal with nasty weather like tornadoes or hurricanes. Population kept well in check ensures not only their safety but everyone had places to live and food. Hormones controlled limited population issues. Job placement gave everyone a position with tasks they were suited to handle. People didn't have to experience a lot of bad and any emotion close to negative could be handled. Even death was mitigated to a degree. It happened but they were somewhat unaware of the end of existence and didn't seem to know what was being done part of the time, which meant less worries of "what comes next" and doing things out of fear. No "you only live once" approaches to life there.
However, with the attempt to cut out all of the bad, so much good is lost. Sure, they didn't have to worry about ski accidents, frost bite, freezing or even sunburns. In turn, they never got to have the joy of seeing snow, sledding or enjoying the sun on a nice warm day.
War didn't happen anymore and they rarely even ever traveled to other communities so there was less of a noticing of "others" even though they had at least a minor idea that there were people like them but a little different.
They didn't say or do hurtful things to each other (that they knew about) and bullying just didn't happen. When they did come close to negative with each other, the apology was done quick and to the point. However, it also all became hollow. The friendships and even the expected apology for any minor thing becomes empty. Without the hormones, the drama and the struggles of interacting with other people, then much of the joy and good are lost as well.
The lesson? It takes the hard times to really appreciate and experience the good. Light creates dark/shadow and without the dark the light would not be noticeable. So, I try to remind myself when things in life start to drag me down. It's okay to be sad, angry and struggle. When we lose someone close, we can mourn the loss as it's painful. But we can also remember the good things that happen. We have great memories and lasting impressions others leave behind on us. It could be as subtle as the sun showing out after two weeks of rain for a few minutes or as loud as Paradise City by Guns N Roses being played at a funeral because that's what my great uncle wanted.
We get it all. The pain, the struggle to survive, uncontrolled elements, peer drama and the problems. However, we also get to experience the true joys of friendship, love, success and the surprise happy moments that hopefully make it all worth this existence. And either way, we get something to write about. |
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Care-giving carries little public acclaim but its significance is undeniable
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Have you read The Giver or seen the movie? What lesson did you learn?
Last month I did a newsletter about food and links to spiritual aspects in stories. Here is the comment sent in response to that topic:
Comment by Elfin Dragon-finally published 
It's interesting you chose food for this particular newsletter. Food is an important aspect for one of my characters. She loves what's called a "Fire Apple" but has trouble getting them because she's on Earth. And, of course, she's a vegan. When faced with such obstacles food becomes an important part of life. What she can and can't eat, who prepares food and how it's prepared. But as for traditions, it mostly comes down to clothing.
Very interesting. At least she's not a Water. 
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Spiritual: May 06, 2015 Issue [#6969]
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