The Good Earth

Just saying Hi & Good Morning to anyone who may stop by. I have in quite a huge crochet slump lately, & it is a bummer. I do have one good reason, and that is that Baby Boy likes to crawl over to my basket and pull out all the skeins and balls of yarn and whatever I am working on and cover himself in it. It is so amusing and there have been several times I have taken out my pretend camera and taken a pic for you (my real camera did not happen to be on-hand at any of these picture perfect moments). So I have quite a tangle to work on. Today this blog will be archaic in that you will have to add the pictures on your own, in your head, in your own imagination, haha.

I have plenty to keep me busy, however, so I don't worry too much about it. Recently I re-read The Good Earth, one of my current favorite books.

The names of the characters escape my mind at the moment, but I have been meditating on them lately. There is the first wife, she is not very pretty, but sturdy and hard working, and good to her husband. She is very resourceful and does not complain. Her character amazes me because after childbirth she goes right back out in the field and works along side her husband. She gives birth alone, silently, and cleans herself, the room, the baby. She does her duty as is expected of her, and takes care of her family.

At one time in history, I can picture this type of thing happening. People are not like this in our day and age. I am not like this. This woman, who is not physically attractive to her husband, is not missed by him until after she is dead and gone. He realized he did not appreciate her properly and sees the mistakes of his life and yet is unable to change himself or the ways he has made for himself. Like the furrows in a plowed field, he continues on to his goals, and in the end, he is so much like the rich aristocratic (can't think of the right words here) family that he both admires & despises that he loses part of himself and his love and value of the land. He seems unable to alter his path once his mind was set on his goals. The love of the land consumed him.

The women in his life are many. Wives, daughter, concubines, in-laws. All play their part and he is affected by all of them. He casts off his first wife for an illusion of beauty and in the end he sees what she really is, that her devotion and love for him is not what his first wife's is and cannot compare.

There are things in our lives that may not contain outward earthly beauty but their value is immeasurable. There are things in our lives that are our duty to do and things to accomplish that are our obligations. And then there are our outlooks and core values. These guide and pull us along our paths. Out of our habits of thought and action we make ruts and ditches that we follow, almost without intent. The good news is that we can change our thoughts, and therefore, change our actions. And eventually, if we are in a ditch, we can get ourselves out and walk along a different path. Thank God there are others to help us along the way, giving us clues and a helping hand and loving words of encouragement. In the book, I don't know that there were any to give them that loving word or helping hand. Each seemed to be left to their destiny as determined by their thoughts and station in life. Thank God that is fiction, and our lives are an unfinished book. The end of our stories are yet to be written.