Friday, 29 February 2008
you get an extra day- use it well
Starting on the 29th February seemed appropriate because opportunities like this don't come up very often!
if you're sitting comfortably....
then I'll begin. My name is a constant in my life- it has followed me across continents, across languages, across the years. 'Alice' I say. 'Like Alice in Wonderland?' comes the seemingly inevitable reply. Everywhere people have heard of this Lewis Caroll story and I used to get quite annoyed at this stock response. I guess if your name is Mickey or Minnie, you might get the same treatment...
But last year, I had a thought which changed the way I see this alliance between my name and the girl who falls down a rabbit hole. Wonder. She walks around in this sometimes scary, often strange, always fascinating world which she has fallen into and her eyes can't take it all in. But she observes and reflects on what surrounds her and tries to pick her way through it.
Carroll describes her like this: "Loving, first, loving and gentle: loving as a dog (forgive the prosaic smile, but I know no earthy love so pure and perfect), and gentle as a fawn; then courteous - courteous to all, high or low, grand or grotesque, King or Caterpillar, even as though she were herself a King’s daughter, and her clothing of wrought gold: then trustful, ready to accept the wildest impossibilities with all that utter trust that only dreamers know; and lastly, curious – wildly curious, and with the eager enjoyment of Life that comes only in the happy hours of childhood, when all is new and fair, and when Sin and Sorrow are but names – empty words signifying nothing!"
Now it would be strange to describe myself as being just like this fictional seven year old and considering Caroll's complimentary description- arrogant and untrue as well! Yet curiosity about the world is something I have always had and in this blog I hope to have a space to put down some of the observations I see on 'paper', to share a little of the wonder with you. Sin and sorrow do have meaning in our world but when you are the daughter of a King, you can keep that childlike trust and love and 'eager enjoyment of life' even when earthly childhood is over.
But last year, I had a thought which changed the way I see this alliance between my name and the girl who falls down a rabbit hole. Wonder. She walks around in this sometimes scary, often strange, always fascinating world which she has fallen into and her eyes can't take it all in. But she observes and reflects on what surrounds her and tries to pick her way through it.
Carroll describes her like this: "Loving, first, loving and gentle: loving as a dog (forgive the prosaic smile, but I know no earthy love so pure and perfect), and gentle as a fawn; then courteous - courteous to all, high or low, grand or grotesque, King or Caterpillar, even as though she were herself a King’s daughter, and her clothing of wrought gold: then trustful, ready to accept the wildest impossibilities with all that utter trust that only dreamers know; and lastly, curious – wildly curious, and with the eager enjoyment of Life that comes only in the happy hours of childhood, when all is new and fair, and when Sin and Sorrow are but names – empty words signifying nothing!"
Now it would be strange to describe myself as being just like this fictional seven year old and considering Caroll's complimentary description- arrogant and untrue as well! Yet curiosity about the world is something I have always had and in this blog I hope to have a space to put down some of the observations I see on 'paper', to share a little of the wonder with you. Sin and sorrow do have meaning in our world but when you are the daughter of a King, you can keep that childlike trust and love and 'eager enjoyment of life' even when earthly childhood is over.
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