I am looking for a new book to read, but as I do, I am stumbling back upon the pages of this new-old favorite of mine. This book is challenging, yet like I have heard about deciphering Greek fables of old in Greek, well worth the effort put into it. Dickens’ elicits such depth in his descriptions. It is almost as though, while I am reading, I can picture even the slightest innuendos of his characters so intricately penned. His writing is rich because of what is found in the foibles and idiosyncracies of these individuals, no doubt stirred by real characters he has met along the way.
I have met some real characters too, and love to watch the non-verbals of people and enjoy seeing how so much more is communicated through the non-verbal than through verbal communication. People will always interest me because they are not an exact science, and there is always something fresh and possible about every encounter. There is value in relating to people different from ourselves, and value in taking the time to notice what someone is saying behind what they are saying. It also goes far in helping you to know who is safe and who might just be best left to their own devices.
Anyway, it is good to read about someone who learned about how his great expectations were misplaced. This is one of the great lessons of adolescence, though some live in it and cycle through it perpetually, expecting more out of another person than is possible or realistic, and value money and class division too much. I am trying to value the true rich things of life; the good, the true, the lovely and on and on……Phil 4:8. It is easy to get swept away in such revelries of perfection and beauty, which are fleeting but the true jewels are the things that cannot be measured with currency or by a photographer or popularity.