What's Wrong with the World I

Not very far into this book just yet, but I definitely like Chesterton's beginning. I've read other books on fixing society - I do have a degree in education, you know, and education degrees contain nearly as much information on how to fix our students as how to teach them (or even content) - and Chesterton's observation that they start with all the problems and then lead up to the Grand Solution to Fix It All is dead-on.

However, he proposes that this is an incorrect way to go about fixing society. First, he says, we must know where we're going with society. What does a healthy society look like? If left to mere humans, we get about 4 billion different ideas. There must be a standard. After all, medicine has that standard of what a healthy body looks like, so doctors all have the same goal: get the body as close to that as possible.

I've yet to get into the second chapter here. I'm taking a little break this morning to work further into The Dolorous Passion. I'm still reading about the preparations for the Passover, so it's easier reading now. (Funny how we're gently brought into the story, and then it seems to go horribly wrong. That must be how the Apostles felt. Here we are, celebrating Passover. Jesus has really been talking about His death a lot lately, but this isn't a night for sadness! And then the Seder is different suddenly and Judas is leaving and John is more upset than anyone else and Jesus leaves before the fourth cup and we're going to the garden to pray. And the garden is quiet, but Jesus ... oh! Jesus what's happening to You? Why is Judas back...? And so reading this book is a lot like being present - a fly on the wall, if you will - at the Passion and Crucifixioin of our dear Lord. I'll write about it in its own post, as it deserves that.)

The weather is warming up here, and so I'm going to send the girls out to play before lunch - while the snow is still here - and take that opportunity to really start reading. A little music in the background, a cup of coffee by my side, and a book in hand.

Sounds about right to me.