How to love the world
How to love the world
The eternal lessons of "Charlotte's Web"
For our next Sunday Candlelight Chat, we’re honored to host Sharon Salzberg (!!!) (one of the world’s leading meditation teachers), on April 14, at 1 pm EST.
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“All that I hope to say in books, all that I ever hope to say, is that I love the world.” - E.B. White
Dear Ham-dels (please read here to know why I call you this),
Unless you’re very very new here (in which case, WELCOME 🤗), you know by now how much I love to share with you gems from kindred spirits. I find these gems scattered around, all over the place, and one of the many missions of this Quiet Life Substack is to gather a few of them in this one central spot so you can return to them, again and again.
So, today: here’s a recent tweet from Elliott Black, who by the way has recently started a lovely Substack of his own, called Begin in Wonder. It’s about E.B. White, the author of the magisterial children’s books, Charlotte’s Web and Trumpet of the Swan.
And I ask you, if you’ve ever read Charlotte’s Web, if it graced your childhood, if it shaped your growing character, if you think of it even now, when you pass a dusty barnyard, or drive by a countryside farm, or spot a spider on your windowsill:
Do you have even a whit of surprise that E.B. White was “a shy, gentle & very private man”?
And then I ask you to remember, the next time you, or a beloved child, friend, pupil, etc., feels lesser-than for being this way, to remember that Charlotte’s Web would not, could not, exist, without beings like this.
Other creations, born of bolder, louder temperaments, would still be here, and these works are glorious too.
But we need the people who can infuse a world of soul into a Wilbur and a Charlotte.
We need the people who love the world, even as they feel safest between the covers of a book.
We need them now, more than ever.
“A library is a good place to go when you feel unhappy, for there, in a book, you may find encouragement and comfort. A library is a good place to go when you feel bewildered or undecided, for there, in a book, you may have your question answered. Books are good company, in sad times and happy times, for books are people—people who have managed to stay alive by hiding between the covers of a book.”
-E.B. White
*
Before you go, here are two questions to consider:
*Are you a little like E.B. White, or do you know and love someone who is?
*What unique gifts does this person (who might be you) offer this broken & beautiful world?
Please leave a comment, below! I always love to hear what you think and experience — and so do your fellow readers.
Goodness library’s feel underrated. My cousins were extras in the remake of this film. And I just recall the book being read to us as children. Thanks for the reminder.
Basically, love should takes its route to the hearts of people regardless the mechanism because the base is the good faith. Goodness is one of the most important forms of love which featured in charity, honesty, cresdibilty and so on. on the other hand, the absence of good norms means the negatives appear in life. Thus, love is not about a desire, it is a need.