Home Teaching March 2008

The Book Thief 8

The power of words, for good or for evil, that message came from the pages of The Book Thief loud and clear. Leisel loved and hated words. They brought her so much joy, the ability to read and thus bring gifts to others... and yet it was with words that Hitler rallied so many in the destruction of so much life.

Words.

The Book Thief 7

"Silence was not quiet or calm, and it was not peace."

When there's nothing to say; no words to convey any type of comfort, consolation, or calm...

The Book Thief 6

"For a few minutes, they all forgot. There was no more yelling or calling out, but they could not contain the small snatches of laughter. They were only humans, playing in the snow, in a house."

Forgetting, if just for a moment or two, sorrows is one of the greatest gifts we possess. There are means provided for us to do this. Mostly they have to do with those we love.

Even though our sorrows may well be because of those we love.

The Book Thief 5

"I could go on, but I've decided for now that three examples will suffice. Three examples, if nothing else, will give you the ashen taste in your mouth that defined my existence during that year.
"So many humans.
"So many colors."

The work of death commenced, to paraphrase the Book of Mormon. I personally have never seen Death. I've been to funerals. I've seen some photos and films, but I've never been there at Death's hour. I'm wondering, reading this book, if I will notice the colors if I am ever there...

The Book Thief 4

"Like most misery, it started with apparent happiness."

Think about the most miserable times in your life; how was a period of happiness connected? Are the feelings related? products of each other?

Okay, now stop thinking about the most miserable times in your life...

The Book Thief 3

"It was a frosty morning but bright with sun. Children scrunched their eyes. A halo surrounded the grim reaper nun, Sister Maria. (By the way--I like this human idea of the grim reaper. I like the scythe. It amuses me.)"

The idea of a true character of Death and his perception of our perception of the personification of him... it begs the question: why have we, and do we still in so many ways, perceive death as a dark, hooded, Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come-type figure?

Abinadi says, "Yea, even so he [Jesus] shall be led, crucified, and slain, the flesh becoming subject even unto death, the will of the Son being swallowed up in the will of the Father."
With this parallelism, he seems to be equating death with the will of the Father. Death is a release...

Do we still personify Death? Should we see him as anything other than our God? our Father? Death in this book cradles souls of the departed and they warm against him; he then sends them on their way.

Why do I assume Death is male?

The Book Thief 2

"Insane or not, Rudy was always destined to be Liesel's best friend. A snowball in the face is surely the perfect beginning to a lasting friendship."

Most writing courses warn you against use of the passive verb ("to be" in all its forms). But Zusak uses it masterfully. It fits the whole feel of the book and the story. The narrator, Death, observes the life of humans in general, and Liesel in particular, in a very passive way.

The Book Thief 1

This particular book will serve as inspiration for many musings, I'm sure. Each line, the way that it is type set, could readily be stopped on and considered. But I'll begin with this one:

"A pair of train guards.

A pair of grave diggers.

When it came down to it, one of them called the shots.

The other did what he was told.

The question is, what if the other is a lot more than one?"

For a book about Nazi Germany and the Holocaust, it seems that this question is addressing one of the central concerns of that period in history. That question has to do with how it is possible that hundreds of thousands of Germans, arguably the most educated and advanced people of their time, could fall into step behind one man who called the shots. Wouldn't they be independently minded? free thinkers? Couldn't they see that the shots thus called were wicked? Didn't they have a sense of the abomination of genocide? Could they really be convinced that they were superior and somehow this justified acts of evil?

Or was it even that? Did it maybe have to do with fear of what would happen to them if they didn't comply? Did they intentionally ignore conscience?

What if the other includes you and me?

Home Teaching Feb 08

I wouldn't be a true home teacher if I didn't slack off once in a while, would I?

So here it is March 1st, and I'm doing my February home teaching, and not even in video format... you can imagine my penitent state.

Nevertheless, I hope that all is well with you and yours, and without any further ado, let us proceed to the lesson.

President Eyring wrote of ministering to those who need ministering to. He included things I would expect (and hope) President Eyring would include, such as encouraging us to go the Lord in prayer and ponder the scriptures, and then He will guide us in what we should say. He said something to the effect of, "I will tell you something you can do that is so easy, a child could do it." That's a wonderful theme of his: Childlikeness.

I certainly know that we can all be instruments in the Lord's hands if we will put our trust in Him and seek His will in prayer.