the book

I didn't know what I was going to write about for my final blog of this blog grading period. I'm at an awkward stage between books if that makes sense and I just wasn't sure what I would write about. I finished a book on Sunday and have picked up Goblet of Fire again. I'm not very far along since when I last left off, and all I would have done was whine about Mad Eye/Barty Crouch, though I might save that for later because I really do find that interesting...

Until just now, since that last sentence I felt that I didn't have much to say about Harry Potter right now, though now I do, but I don't want to talk about it so later then. Okay, back to what I was trying to get to eloquently as possible... Tuesday night I couldn't sleep so I picked up the book closest to me which was on my desk, next to my bed. It was the Bible. It been there since the night I'd studied for the unit test when you said to familiarize ourselves with Genesis chapters 2 & 3. I picked it up and opened to a random page, in one of the four gospels, either Matthew, Mark, Luke or John, I don't remember which and started to read some parables.

The seemed much shorter and much less detailed than the ones you read from picture books or perform as skits in Sunday School class when your little. For example the story of the good samaritan, I remember when I was little I remember that there was a man who had been beaten horribly and robbed by bad people. A priest passes him and doesn't do anything, a soldier passes him and doesn't do anything. But then a regular person passes him. Gets him clothes, cleans his wounds, gives him a place to stay, along with some money. In the Bible somone just asks Jesus a question and he answers it with this story and at the end says, "Who do you think will have the everlasting life?" Perhaps it's the absence of pictures, or a room of 10 year olds popcorn reading, or a dramatic skit complete with a plastic sword for the soldier, that makes it seem smaller when I read the tiny paragraph in tiny print in Matthew, Mark, Luke or John...

I flipped ahead a good bit to the next gospel to compare, because all four gospels are supposed to tell the story of Jesus from what I understand. And they were, some parables were worded differently, or a bit longer or shorter, but over all they were the same, everything Jesus said was typed in red.

The story of the Good Samaritan reminded me of one of my favorite quotes from one of my favorite television shows West Wing:

"This guy's walking down the street when he falls in a hole. The walls are so steep he can't get out.
"A doctor passes by and the guy shouts up, 'Hey you. Can you help me out?' The doctor writes a prescription, throws it down in the hole and moves on.
"Then a priest comes along and the guy shouts up, 'Father, I'm down in this hole can you help me out?' The priest writes out a prayer, throws it down in the hole and moves on
"Then a friend walks by, 'Hey, Joe, it's me can you help me out?' And the friend jumps in the hole. Our guy says, 'Are you stupid? Now we're both down here.' The friend says, 'Yeah, but I've been down here before and I know the way out.'"

And being reminded of West Wing reminded me of an episode in which President Bartlett played by Martin Sheen attacks a religious radio personality. I'll put a link HERE so that you can CLICK and WATCH it. (And here what I read next in the Bible.) You probably won't get to watch it in the school building unless you are away from the YouTube blocking shield that surrounds the school.

Anyways... I had a good time reading the Bible that night. I'm not a regular reader, but from time to time I crack it open. The thinking involved definitely wore me out enough to go to sleep.

But my question is, what do you call it. Fiction? Nonfiction? You could say that the contents of the Bible are made up. But I think that it's definitely, at least an account of the times and area. But I think if I were to call it anything I would call it literature... I can't think of many books, that have survived as long as this book. And bible meaning The Book in Greek or Roman, or whatever they say it is. I would compare it to The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. When I was trying to be a smart looking person when I was little I would always go to the Classics/Literature section and Ben Franklin would always be there even though it is an autobiography there for nonfiction, there's just something about it that puts it in the classics/literature section, the same goes for Origin of Species etc.

There's really so much more I could say, but I've said a lot and I'm honestly too tired to say it and I have to be at Agnes Scott at 6:45 tomorrow morning, so I'll stop here.