There are numerous ways in which people tend to show their love, care and compassion to one another, and giving each other presents is one of the most common ones. From certified life coaches to religious leaders, we hear everyone preaching about the happiness and fulfillment one gets from sharing. Way too often, however, we do not really think what exactly we are sharing with our loved ones. Surely, a sparkly new make-up bag or a vintage reindeer sweater can make them jump for joy, but that joy will be blank, short-lived and meaningless. Thoughts and feelings are what can change a life, and one of the best ways to convey them is through fiction and poetry; that is why I agree with Annie Dillard’s statement about gifts.
Pieces of talented, thought-provoking and insightful writing can affect a person on many levels. An example of such excellent prose is Lauren Slater’s essay “Three Spheres”. Telling about her experience as a psychologist coming back to the mental institution she had visited as a patient, she touches upon several topics, such as abuse, depression, self-harm, and abandonment. Her writing is as open and vulnerable as the girl she used to be, overwhelmed with the feelings she could not control or escape. However, despite everything she had suffered, she managed to “leave behind at least for now what looks like wreckage, and shape something solid” from her life (Slater, 1996, p. 17).
Although she describes it as “what could be called her ‘recovery’”, she repeatedly expresses gratitude to all the people who helped her (Slater, 1996, p. 9). Their care, patience and “that steady acceptance must have had an impact, teaching me slowly over the years how to see something salvageable in myself” (Slater, 1996, p. 18). A piece of fiction like this one does make a better present, because in moments of despair and frustration it can give you a gleam of light and hope.
To be able to think of gifts like that, people might need to become braver. I think that it does take courage to share something that had a strong impact on you. We are often too scared to be misunderstood even by the people closest to us, but that should not be an obstacle. Gifts that are honest and made with a pure heart will always make a change for the better.
Another example of powerful writing that always makes a connection to the hearts of the readers is “How It Feels To Be Colored Me”, an essay by Zora Neale Hurston. Writing about her racial identity, she discusses how different she can feel about it at different moments in time.
She describes both running away from and towards to one’s identity, which, I believe, is the issue many modern people face. She also writes about “the day she became colored”, remembering the times when the color of her skin did not make her feel different from other people in any way (Hurston, 1928, p. 1). By that statement, she argues that it is society that creates these identity constructs, and that people were the ones who made her feel different. This essay can definitely “change a life”, because it gives a valuable perspective on how people view racial identity, and how these views can complicate their lives, as well as the lives of other people.
All this allows the conclusion that hardback fiction and poetry are among the best gifts to receive, because literature is one of the most influential art forms. Honest and engaging writing can take us to the places we have never even dreamed about, and make us contemplate on the issues and values that we would have never found on our own. These are the gifts that will not perish with time and, like loyal friends, will always welcome their readers, comforting them in moments of discouragement and struggle.
References
Hurston, Z. N. (1928). How it feels to be colored me. The World Tomorrow, 1-3.
Slater, L. (1996). Three Spheres. Creative Nonfiction III, 3-23.