In Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables... Jean Valjean steals the silver spoons and forks from Monseigneur Bienvenu - even after being shown a great hand of kindness. The gendarmes return Valjean promptly where, without reproachment, the bishop insists he had given Valjean the silver and furthers to mention that Valjean has forgotten the very valuable silver candlesticks. It is then, in a moment, that a new path begins to open for the man....
”No one could have told what was passing within him, not even himself. In order to attempt to form an idea of it, it is necessary to think of the most violent of things in the presence of the most gentle.
Even on his visage it would have been impossible to distinguish anything with certainty. It was a sort of haggard astonishment. He gazed at it, and that was all. But what was his thought?
It would have been impossible to divine it. What was evident was, that he was touched and astounded. But what was the nature of this emotion?”Ultimately this terrible rapscallion becomes a person of great character....all for a few candlesticks - or rather, for the gesture to which they are a symbol. (okay, just like a grade school book report - You’ll have to read the book to find out how it ends) I will say though, It amazes me how such small acts of kindness, understanding and generosity often have the power to affect a person’s life in very positive and substantial ways. Especially when they may seem undeserved.
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For those who showed me kindness for all the times when even "I was a girl"...
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michaelboy
