Poisonwood

So, I just finished reading the Harry Potter series. Which was completely and utterly awesome, and it's so hard to admit that fact, because I always viewed it as childish and petty before reading (who has two thumbs and is a lame idiot at times, this guy.)

The point is I loved this series so much, that I was literally heart broken when it was over. I didn't pick up a book for 2 days. However, with a little book club comradery from my mother in-law Heidi, I picked up the Poisonwood Bible.

After reading Harry Potter this book put me to sleep multiple times at first, until I started to slowly grasp hold of its depth. This book has now consumed me. Even today, as I walked through the grocery store, this book tints my worldview on how I view everything around me. I need a place to just put my thoughts out there, so I can move on to life as I know it.

The book is basically about Africa, and how an ignorant Christian missionary family went into the country expecting to change everything up, all Africa needed was for someone to finally go in there and teach them how to do life. Instead, they found themselves swallowed, chewed up, and spit back out completely different than expected. No longer were they family, no longer were some alive, no longer were some sane, no longer was anything normal. And all the way to their graves Africa dominated everything about their existence. Millions of people have gone into Africa thinking it could be tamed, and millions of people have been unsuccessful. People don't change Africa, Africa changes people. Memories are not easily forgotten and life would never be the same.

Several things deeply impacted me about this book:
1.) I have a strong urge to pick up my bible and memorize everything about it (which is strange, because I'm pretty sure this book is supposed to reveal "our ignorant Christian way") However, I find my self longing to know the depths of scripture. It seems if anything is real, it needs a foundation.
2.) I want to devour every piece of literature available to the human race. The family was depraved of a lot of supplies and food on their journey, and the way the author talked about education and books and how rare it all is within these tribes in Africa, made me so thankful for libraries and schooling. I can't even began to describe the hunger for education that has stirred within me.
3.) Our over indulgence in America is incredibly disgusting. How much we waste! I've been non-stop thinking about our grocery stores, and how everything is stocked 10-12 deep in some cases. These tribes in Africa live off of whatever they got around them, which is pathetically minimal. The sheer volume of goods and waste we have at our fingertips, all in the name of business/money. All the packaging material we use to get the excessive product into our hands. I find myself wanting to get away from it, it makes my skin crawl to think about. Its disgusting, but I'm fat white and happy, right?