The Book or The Movie

Early morning is my favorite time of day,
and it's my favorite time to read.
It's quiet and calm with out distraction.
It's then that my travels with books are uninterrupted.
Once the sun starts to rise and the sky turns to pink,
I start to prepare for the day ahead.

I finished The Help  early one morning.
It stopped me dead in my tracks.

The pain and the sadness made me cry.
The stupidity of the slave owners made me angry.
The thought of women
loving, and caring, and giving,
day in and day out,
sometimes for as along as forty years;
to go home in the evening
to drunken cotton pickers
only to get themselves beat up.
And then, to put on those starched uniforms
and start it all over again
the next day. And the next night.

It made me shiver.

To all of the women who stand up
and to all of those who are still afraid,
remember always:

"You are smart.
 You are kind.
 You are important."

~Kathryn Stockett

We went to see the movie this past Friday evening.
And, not to be critical of anyone or anything;
the personal and gut wrenching emotions of the author
were lacking on the screen.
The parting shot, however, was magical.

I tip my hat to Kathryn Stockett and "The Help".
Thank You, Kathryn, for wondering
what it was like to be a black woman
in Mississippi in the 1960's.


With my love and hugs.
xo