Of Elves, Dwarves, and Fairy Dust

Cinderella was always my favorite fairy tale. I'd like to say to that I fell in love with the Grimm Brother's account...but I didn't. I think my fascination really began with the Disney movie, hearing all the music, enjoying the little characters that although not in the real fairy tale, made the movie awesome. Gus-Gus stands out in memory, for instance. ;P

But when I was around seven, I read The Chronicles of Narnaia - and a whole new world opened right before my eyes. Suddenly, fawns and talking animals and kings and queens seemed like they really could be real. It made me want to step into Lewis' magical world and become a part of Narnia.

Actually, I tried once. My mom and dad had a big oak armoire and one day, just for fun, I stepped inside. I didn't close the door all the way behind me and even though I knew for a fact that nothing was going to happen, I went to the back anyway. I knocked on the wooden panel in the back and for a moment, I could feel what Lucy must have felt when she came back from Narnia. That sense of disappointment and betrayal, that feeling of wanting something so badly but knowing that it will never, can never, happen.

The next logical step into fairy-land seemed to be Tolkien's famous series, The Lord of the Rings. Most of my friends have read those books and are captivated by the elves and fairies of that fairy tale. I tried reading those once...it didn't go very well. The descriptions and amount of brain power that has to go into reading those fictional books just aren't worth it for me. I'll try again some other time- but for now, I'm content to *not* be a part of the passionate Tolkien conversations and debates.

Now, I'm almost fifteen. You'd think that my time among fairies and talking animals has passed. But I'm afraid it hasn't. I don't think it ever will.

Let's think about fairy tales for a moment. There's Cupid and Psyche, Lucy and Tumnus, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. All are so uniquely different. The first, the story of a Greek god and his love. The second, the tale of a modern-day English girl and a friend she meets in a magical land. The last, a teenager abandoned and banished because of one woman's vanity.

But all of them still are fairy tales. Not because they're not true. Although they do have that in commmon, you'll find that elements of each story could be in fact real-life. Instead, they all rest upon one person's decision, upon one choice that determines the fate of all.

"In the fairy tale, an incomprehensible happiness rests upon an incoprehensible condition. A box is opened, and all evils fly out. A word is forgotten and cities perish. A lamp is lit and love flies away. A flower is plucked and human lives are forfeited. An apple is eaten and the hope of God is gone."

-GK Chesterton, Orthodoxy, 77

Linking that to my life, there are some real corellaries. We all make choices, every day. Getting up out of bed is a choice, talking with my family is a choice. And for each choice we make, there is a consequence. That's a part of life that we all have to face-actions result in consequences. I know, we all hate them, but yet they still remain.

That's what characters in those seemingly unpretentious, harmless fairy tales learned. When Pandora cracked open the lid of that box, she submitted to her temptation and curiousity. She would have to face, for the rest of her life, the fact that she single-handedly brought death and destruction into the world.

When Psyche lit that oil lamp and looked into the face of her husband, she, if only for an instant, forgot the love she had for him. She forgot all but a burning need for knowledge which she finally quenched, but at what a price!

Our decisions have results. Our lives are made up of choices and potential. Potential tragedies, potential joys. Just like those fawns and fairies, nymphs and dryads in elfland, we get to have the final say over our life.


What is the end of the fairy tale?

---

By the way, dear readers, I just re-discovered an incredible literary treasure. Or treasures, rather. It really does belong as a footnote to this post...seeing as the books are called "fairy tales re-told"...and I can't wait to blog about it. Maybe in a couple weeks?

But just to get you ready- a quote:

"Have you ever felt that there was something going on in life that not everyone was aware of?...As though there’s a story going on that everyone is a part of, but not everybody knows about—a sort of drama, a battle between what’s peripheral and what’s really important. As though the people you meet aren’t just their plain, prosaic selves, but are actually princes and princesses, gods and goddesses, fairies, gypsies, shepherds, all sorts of fantastic creatures who’ve chosen to hide their real shape...Or have forgotten who they really are.
Have you ever thought that?"

--Rose Brier, The Shadow of the Bear

An Ordinary Sanity

Over the past year, I've developed something of a passion for GK Chesterton, who could very well be the most significant writer of the 20th century. I have a section of my library dedicated to him, which although small now, I am actively trying to increase. Interestingly-and sadly-enough, for all of his amazing works (The Man Who Was Thursday, The Ball and the Cross...), Chesterton has been called the "master without a masterpiece."

I have to say, I really think that's a misguided perception of Chesterton. First off, you could debate that Chesterton never really had a masterpiece, but it could totally be argued logically on either side. And secondly, if you're looking for a masterpiece, you're going to miss the richness of Chesterton's work. You're just going to keep looking for the best, the grandest of his achievements.

But that's not really what this blog post is supposed to be about. What it's really supposed to be about is what I - and many, many others- believe Chesterton's magnum opus to be. That is, Orthodoxy. Oh yes, the title may seem harsh and uninviting. But all you have to do is open the book to the first page and you're already engrossed.

There's so much to say about this book that it's not going to all fit into one post. To be perfectly honest, I'm probably going to be posting about sections of Orthodoxy for a long time. But this post is on just one part of the book...that of sanity and lack thereof.

I've never really thought much about insane people- it's not exactly a thought that pops into my mind all that often. =P But apparently, Chesterton thought about it a whole bunch, seeing as he has a whole chapter dedicated to it. And there, he makes a really insightful point.

"The man who begins to think without the proper first principles goes mad; he begins to think at the wrong end. And for the rest of these pages we have to try and discover what is the right end. But we may ask in conclusion, if this be what drives men mad, what is it that keeps them sane...For this moment it is possible in the same solely practical manner to give a general answer touching what in actual human history keeps men sane.

Mysticism keeps men sane. As long as you have mystery you have health; when you destroy mystery you created morbidity. The ordinary man has always been sane because the ordinary man has always been a mystic. He has permitted the twilight. He has always had one foot in earth and the other in fairyland. He has always left himself free to doubt his gods; but (unlike the agnostic of today) free also to believe in them."

Mystery isn't often regarded as an aid to sanity. Actually, it's thought of as quite the opposite. After all, when I first think of mystery, a crime searching for criminal and thereby justice comes to mind. A mad search for the wanted.

But what I think Chesterton is trying to say is that human intellect desires, needs, mystery. When you think you have all the answers, you start to become your own god. And while we're on the subject  of gods, there's one sentence in that quote that really leapt out at me. "He has always left himself free to doubt his gods; but free also to believe in them."

There comes a time in every person's life where they begin to doubt God. Maybe it's after a tragedy, maybe it's because they think they have it all figured out. Regardless, that period of doubting God and his soverignty will come. And I think it's ordinary, healthy, and can be strengthening...as long as you don't let it end there. Doubt is not an end-it's just a step along the path.

When doubt comes, the rational and responsible person will want to find answers. They'll want to analyze and find out if this God whom they have worshipped all their lives is really true. And as they do that, they'll move along their path of doubt and eventually a realization, a change will come.

It might be easy and soft. It may be as loud as thunder. But the realization will come that somewhere along the line, that doubt disappeared and was replaced instead with a childlike trust. A trust that invites the real, ordinary, sane man to search deeper for the Truth. And maybe that will turn into what it did for Chesterton the man.

Not Chesterton the writer. Not Chesterton the playwright. Not Chesterton the poet. Chesterton the man.

Maybe it will turn into what it did for him- namely, orthodoxy.

"This is the thrilling romance of orthodoxy. People have fallen into a foolish habit of speaking of orthodoxy as something heavy, humdrum, and safe. There was never anything so perilous or so exciting as orthodoxy. It was sanity- and to be sane is more dramatic than to be mad."

~GK Chesterton

Potpourri

A lot to catch up on...

-success, failure, and debate.
For the first time I participated in Team Policy debate, so that meant I got to do a lot of research about taxes and US revenue generation policies. I definitely learned a lot from that, but more importantly I got a crash course in success and failure.
My partner and I decided at the beginning of the year that we wanted our goal to be NITOC (National Invitational Tournament of Champions). We thought that if we gave it our best, we could get there.
We did not do well in our first tournament. We got a very low score and low speaker points. After the initial disappointment, we both sat down, together and individually, to assess what we did wrong. I realized that I had let myself grow over-confident and quite honestly, that was a big part of what lost us the tournament.
The next two tournaments, we achieved an even score and were tantalizingly close to winning one more round in both tournaments, which would have allowed us to progress farther. However, we ended up not qualifying to NITOC-which means that we didn't make our goal. Therefore, in a literal sense of the word, we failed this year.
But after doing some thinking about it, I think that in a different way, we succeeded. We wanted to show ourselves just how well we could do- and we did. We also debated two different resolutions, since for one tournament we went to a different league. That meant that we had two weeks to write a case/gather neg information on the criminal justice system. We had an even score at that tournament, which I'm really pleased with. Overall, even though I of course wish we'd made our goal, we had a good year.
"Success is not to be measured so much by the position one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome." ~Booker T. Washington

-impromptu.
My last tournament was just a week ago, and I participated in impromptu. In this event, you draw three topics, pick one, and have two minutes to prepare a five minute speech. You can't take any notes up with you.
I didn't compete in this event all year long, but just for some practice, I decided to do it at this tournament. I'm so glad I did.
In my first round, I got the word "dare." I talked for over five minutes on why we should dare to do things, why we should take risks (because that word is synonymous with dare), etc. It was fun, and I liked the speech, even though I messed up once. I said, "We should dare to do whatever we want." The instant the words came out of my mouth, I knew it sounded wrong...but oh well, that's impromptu.
The second round, they had questions. Things like, "If you could have a superpower, what would it be?" >.< I really don't like those kind of hypothetical, never-going-to-happen scenarios for impromptu, and I think I would've had a really hard round if I hadn't drawn one of the questions I did. I got two lame questions and this one: "If you could do anything without failing, what would it be?" That's when I started grinning at the prep table.
I again filled my time because I got to talk all about success and failure and had such a fun round. Basically, it was a five minute version of everything I just wrote about success.
And third round, I got "defiance." This actually was my best round according to my judges, even though I didn't think so. This was enjoyable to speak on too, because I decided to look at the positive aspect of the word "defiance" instead of the negative way that everybody usually hears it.
And then I broke. Which wasn't expected at all. Really though, I was just having so much fun that I was really glad I broke in impromptu! :) Semi-finals round, I got the word "insufferable." Thinking back on it, I could have done a lot of different things with that speech that would've made it better, but it was still good. There were a bunch of super good competitors in that room, so I'm not surprised that I didn't make it to finals. But it was still a good ride and I had a ton of fun with impromptu- and that's really all that matters. A lot of competitors are forced to do impromptu, but it can be such a fun, insightful event if done well.
And to be absolutely honest, I think that a huge factor in why I broke is because of my topics. I was EXTREMELY blessed at this tournament to draw topics that I actually felt strongly about anyway and wanted to speak on. I'm not an amazing impromptu-er, by any stretch of the imagination. It's about speaking from your heart, every round. Whenever I start using head knowledge in an impromptu round, I don't do well at all. Even when you get a topic that you can't really relate to, go somewhere that means something to you. Become vulnerable. And have fun.

-quotes.
If you were to look at my laptop right now, you would see a whole bunch of virtual sticky notes. All of them have quotes on them about various things, so every time I turn on my laptop I get to instantly see all these quotes. (It really helps with impromptu, I had a quote for every round.) I've collected them over the year, so here are a couple of my favorites. I may post one or two once in a while, as their own blog post if I'm running low on time.

"The sane man knows that he has a touch of the beast, a touch of the devil, a touch of the saint, a touch of the citizen. Nay, the really sane man knows that he has a touch of the madman."
~GK Chesterton

"When the world tells you, "Give up," Hope whispers, "Try one more time."

"Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at its testing point."
~CS Lewis

"Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude."
~Thomas Jefferson

"All right Mister, let me tell you what winning means. It means that you're willing to go longer, work harder, and give more than anyone else."
~Vincent Lombardi

-Titanic Heroes.
A lot is going on right now with Titanic Heroes and Benjamin and I are both really excited about it. We'll be presenting at the Christian Heritage conference this weekend, which is a pretty big deal and should be very rewarding.
Benjamin just put together this awesome video for Titanic Heroes...and because he's my brother, I'm going to brag on him and tell you that it really is amazing. We literally sat down on Wednesday evening, story-boarded the idea, and got it on YouTube last night. It looks super professional.
Blogger/YouTube are being dumb and won't let me put in the actual video so here's the link.
Introducing Titanic Heroes

-and just because Google rocks.