The Themes of Death and Life and all that’s In-between.

I’ve been reading a book called ‘The Book Thief’ the last few days. Some of you will know all about it, and will probably have read it. I’ve sat a little on the fence with this one, knowing it’s there and hearing the rumours that it’s brilliant and inspiring, and even seeing the flickers of images from the upcoming film.

So, with my new Kindle in tow (I finally succumbed, I’m sorry!), I sat down and picked it up, and finally worked out what all the fuss is about.

Now, I’m not going to go into too much detail. That I’m saving for my full review, once I’ve finished. No, here all I’m going to do is discuss the themes and the mounting emotions that the words from this novel have shaken out of me.

Like the fact that it’s set during World War Two, and in Germany, and it’s focus on characters that struggle against fear and morality, what they should do, what they don’t do, and the consequences that happen when they do the right thing.

I despair at the fact that humanity hasn’t changed. We still wage war, we still kill hundreds, thousands, even millions of people, and we still sit and listen to what we’re doing (maybe indirectly) to both people and the planet as a whole, and teeter on the edge of sitting back and ignoring what’s really going on and doing something about it.

I have to confess, I’m sure I’m one of those people. I sit here and I write or think about it, but I don’t do anything significant. I might sign a few petitions here and there, and send money in to charity, but how many of us really change something? We help, and that’s a good thing. It’s a start, and we must all start somewhere, but sometimes I wonder if we’re doing all we can, rather than just what we think we can.

But there again, I wonder, what can you do? I see people on the news, saying words about fighting back, but I do not believe in that. What better world could we have that starts with fighting, with war and chaos? Shouldn’t a better world start with peace and honesty? Of the ideals we want, rather than those we want to keep at bay?

We are all the same, and I think until we all realise that (because I’m sure most of us know that, it’s only the minority that seem to hold sway, irony of ironies), humanity as a whole will continue in the direction it is going.

I think then, of Nelson Mandela and one of his quotes that speaks loudest to me; “No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.”

We all are born, live, and we all die. We are all just a flicker of a candle, burning as bright as we can before we finally fade and blink out. Where we go after, I don’t know, but it’s what we do while we live that we should focus on, and make sure we do what we believe is the right thing, regardless of what anyone might say.