It’s not often that I think about my connection to the world. I don’t tend to consider what my connections are to the wild, bustling planet of continents, countries, counties, cities, towns, villages, communities, and homes. In person, I interact with so few and such small pockets of my community.
Presented, however, with the question on one thing that connects me to the world at large, I thought for a bit. After consideration, I would have to decide on literature.
As a child, I devoured all the books that my parents provided. Isabella Alden held prominence as my favorite author, giving me a glimpse into American life in other parts of the country, albeit, in the early twentieth century. My other favorites O.F. Walton and Hesba Stretton as well as a few other Lamplighter titles gave me my first glimpse into the dirty streets of London and the glowing countryside of England.
As I grew older, Arthur Conan Doyle took me through various corners of Britain, while Douglas Bond showed me the bonny braes and beautiful accents of the Scottish. G.A. Henty introduced me to the French, aided by Mr. Dickens who also let me explore Britain in more detail, while strengthening my growing fondness for Egypt and the Scots.
True, many of these books are old. Classics. Jules Verne showed me a world long since aged and shifting. Carriages no longer rumble through London as Mr. Dickens told of and I know the mines aren’t run as Hesba Stretton described. It didn’t matter. The connection had been made.
I still love those connections and still enjoy learning about their more modern ways. I’ve studied many of the countries and their ways both historically and modern day because of those stories. England is on my list to visit some day. I would love to learn the French language. If I could choose to give myself any accent, I’d pick a Scottish one.
Further, their influence makes it into much of my writing. The reverend and his wife who join Georgiana’s church in Grandmother’s Letters are from England. The Wallace clan, who appear more than once in multiple books, began in Scotland, while the patriarch David Wallace shows the accent of his native home in his speech. Knowing what I do about my own future projects, I know that influence isn’t going to wane any time soon.
In my every day life, I use English and Scottish words, I play around with the accents of multiple countries both when reading aloud and just when I feel like it, and I enjoy watching movies or shows that show life and characters from around the world, especially those places that I learned to love through my books.
Certainly, there are other connections that I could ponder and pontificate upon. So much in this world is connected and interconnected, often only in ways that the Creator of this intricate tapestry of life can see and identify. I do think, however, that literature might be my favorite connection, it certainly is one of them, and I’m rather thankful that it can be.
To the KING be all the glory!
