September 27, 2005

Yeah, I know, I'm posting *another* Annie Dillard quote...

But this one really is wonderful. It's from The Writing Life, which is one of the most breathtakingly beautiful books I have ever read. Wow. But anyway...

"He is careful of what he learns, because that is what he will know."

Short, but oh-so-true.

I remember when I was little, and we would be in grocery store checkout lines. There, arranged temptingly at my 8-year-old eye level (a soapbox for another day) were all the various celebrity gossip, fashion, and teen magazines, with attractive shiny covers showing beautiful people. Unfortunately, they also advertised blatantly and shamelessly the sinful stuff inside. Queen Shenaynay always told us not to look at the magazine rack, because our minds were temples of the Lord and the things on those magazines were too horrible to be plastered on the walls of that temple. Reading this quote the other day brought that to my mind, and also made me think how very grateful I am to her for teaching us this idea.

Thank you, Queenie.

3 comments:

Lynn Bruce said...

Thank you -- for listening, heeding, and remembering. And for your grateful heart.

LaceyP said...

Wow...that is such a great quote, and such good advice from the Queen! I've never quite heard it put that way..."the things on those magazines were too horrible to be plastered on the walls of that temple". That is a great way to think of it...This post helped me out a whole lot...more than you know! Love ya, FSLL! Thanks!

Life is better in the South said...

Thank you for sharing that thought, Fa-Sol-La. It means more to me than I can say.