So I was reading a story by Flannery O’Connor and Carly stops, looks at what I am reading, and asks, “Dad, why are you reading that? I just had to read that for my literature class?!”
She showed me her school book and, sure enough, she was assigned one of the stories in this collection that I have been reading lately.
One of the reasons I take time to read literature is that it helps me slow down and look at life through open eyes.
I tend to gravitate toward goals that are important to me.
In doing these good things I can miss the best things.
We can move so fast toward one good goal that we are blind to so much else along the way.
Slowing down to read a well written story helps me look at life through eyes that are a little more open to see what is around me.
Here is one paragraph that may help you see what I mean:
“The black sky was underpinned with long silver streaks that looked like scaffolding and depth on depth behind it were thousands of stars that all seemed to be moving very slowly as if they were about some vast construction work that involved the whole universe and would take all time to complete. No one was paying attention to the sky. The stores in Taulkinham stayed open late on Thursday nights so that people could have an extra opportunity to see what was for sale.” — Flannery O’Connor
I want to see what is around me.
I want to pay attention to the sky.
Who cares if the stores stay open late?