I can be stopped cold in my tracks by a beautiful line of literature.

Literature can be both a beauty and a balm to my soul.

So …

I stop.

I ponder.

I feel.

I connect.

The power of literature to connect people to people in the vast world of humanity joins us in a web of thoughts, experiences, sufferings, and joys.

Humanity moments in literature can cause us to:

soar to the heights or plummet to the depths with Fantine in Les Miserables.

experience the sacrifice of Sonya in Crime and Punishment or

run with the heart-pounding survival plight of the unnamed protagonist in Invisible Man.

We are people.

We know the ups and downs. The ins and outs. The joys and sorrows.

Ralph Ellison, author of Invisible Man, stated: “When I was a kid, I read English novels. I read Russian translations and so on. And always, I was the hero. Literature is integrated. And I’m not just talking about color, race. I’m talking about the power of literature to make us recognize again and again the wholeness of the human experience.”

We are connected because we are human.

Literature calls you to love your neighbor. Love him because you know him and he is you. He is made in the image of God. Imago Dei.