Closing Pandora's Box

I read a book not too long ago and a particular scene regarding things really caught my attention and got me thinking.

“Almost everyone to whom I introduced Jennifer remarked on how self-possessed she appeared for one who had experienced so much tragedy. Indeed, she did have a remarkably assured manner, and in particular a capacity to make light of setbacks which might have brought other girls her age to tears. A good example of this was her reaction concerning her trunk.”

The girl Jennifer is a young orphaned teenager who is adopted by Christopher, the I of the story. She had been waiting a very long time for her trunk containing her valuable possessions to be delivered to the UK from Canada. Christopher received a letter informing him that the trunk had been lost at sea. On informing her, she just laughed it off.

When after two or three days she had still shown no sign of distress over her loss, I felt inclined to talk with her, and one morning after breakfast, spotting her wandering about in the garden, went out to join her.

…When I stepped down on to the lawn, Jennifer was drifting about the garden with a toy horse in her hand, dreamily walking it along the tops of the hedges and bushes. I remember being rather concerned the toy might be harmed by the dew and was on the verge of pointing this out to her. But in the end, as I came up, I said simply:

“That was rotten luck about your things. You’ve taken it awfully well, but it must have been a terrible shock.”

… “It’s all right. I’m not upset. After all, they were just things. When you’ve lost your mother and your father, you can’t care so much about things, can you?” With that, she gave her little laugh.

… “You know, Jenny, I’m not sure that’s true. You might say a thing like that to a lot of people and they’d believe you. But you see, I know it’s not true. When I came from Shanghai, the things that came in my trunk, those things, they were important to me… What I’m trying to say is that for me, my trunk was special. If it got lost, I’d have been upset.”

She shrugged and put her horse up to her cheek. “I was upset. But I’m not any more. You have to look forward in life.”

Today we live in a very materialistic society. A survey of parents reported in the BBC showed that one-third of under-10s possess their own mobile phone¹. The Guardian describes it ‘a materialistic trap’². Parents are forced to work longer hours to provide money to fulfil these materialistic desires and thus spend less time with their children. The media plays a significant role in this brain washing of children making them feel they have to own a particular thing or gadget to look cool or to improve. When I was 10, I was too busy playing watching Power Rangers and re-enacting it out with my friends in the park. In this materialistic mind-trap, many people forget the value of the things that matter in life. Things can easily be replaced. Maybe not today or tomorrow, but the day after, or the day after that.

I was discussing this with my friend the General and he said, “Yes it’s true. People give preference to materialistic things. But I think sometimes some things are worth cherishing. When a person is no longer with you, sometimes all you have to remember that person is the things they left behind.”

I have a many such things, which my mum calls junk, but they hold such sentimental value I wouldn’t get rid of them for the world. Because they remind me of what once was, but could no longer be.

Do you have any such things?

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Title: Good Riddance – Green Day
All quotes are taken from the book “When we were orphans” By Kazuo Ishiguro
¹Third of under-tens own mobiles – BBC
²UK children stuck in ‘materialistic trap’ – The Guardian

Some of you may remember Mr Bristol from one of my previous posts. Here’s another assembly of his that I’d like to share with you. It was a story this time and I’ll try and tell it as well as I can remember:

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He was a staunch believer in God and had been so for many years. Having enjoyed a rather well to do life, with little problems there was never a time when his faith was tested, that is until the flood hit. Nothing like it had ever been seen before. The tops of some buildings could be seen sticking out of the water gasping for air but others had been completely drowned. It had become submerged under water like the lost city of Atlantis, except it wasn’t quite lost yet. Those that lived in big houses or were able to access high buildings waited on rooftops for the rescue services. He was standing at the top of his house with many other people, men and women, boys and girls and waited. A raft came by. They asked him to get on but he refused, “My God will save me.” He continued to pray for his Lord to rescue him. A little while later a small boat came to them and those people that were unable to get onto the raft left the rooftop via the boat. Once again he was asked to join them but once again he replied, “My God will save me.” When the boat left, he started praying again. After some time had elapsed a helicopter came by. It had been scanning the area looking for any remaining survivors. The helicopter sent down a ladder and the pilot spoke, “We are running out of fuel and this will be our last trip so count this your lucky day.” But the man was waiting for his God to save him and refused to climb up into the helicopter. After waiting for some time and after pleading with the man to take the chance he had, the helicopter flew away back to safety. Again, the man began to pray and it continued to rain heavily. The God he was waiting for didn’t come down from the heavens and save him. The real God tried to help him 3 times, but he never realised and did not accept that help.

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People say we should only ask God for help. After all he is the Protector, the Sustainer, the Provider and the one who created us. I disagree with that. Yes we should pray for God to help us, but like the man in the flood, we shouldn’t expect Him to come down from the heavens and hand us a tenner to pay for the shoes we want to buy, or whisper in our ears when we need help with a question in an exam, or give us a shoulder on which to cry. He sends His angels, makes things happen, or puts an idea in the mind of another person who in turn becomes your angel.

Living in a materialistic world, people tend to give great precedence to clothes that can be replaced when ripped, to laptops that can be replaced when they break down or to cars that can be replaced when they stop working. One thing that we fail to remember the importance of is the people. The family that God chose for us and the family we chose for ourselves, our friends. Once they’re gone, they won’t be coming back. They are our angels that God specially gave to us with the duty to make us laugh when we are down, to steal chips off when we are hungry, to give us a shoulder on which to cry our sorrows and to hold our hand when we are lost.

You can have all the money in the world, but the richness of love, of friendship and of family is more valuable than all that. The value of angels cannot be estimated with pieces of paper and metal.

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Title: I have a dream – West Life