A delightful article that manages to intelligently discuss a religious person without denigrating their faith? How did this article get posted here? Thank you for the wonderful read.
'I finally got around to reading after having put it off because St. Therese's nickname, "the Little Flower of Jesus," or just "the Little Flower," rubbed me wrong. Either "little" or "flower" sound gooey to me; together they're almost toxic, like Shirley Temple or Little Nell or Disney or a grown woman who puts on a child's voice to try to sound "cute." (Cute has a shelf life.) Therese's cursory biography didn't help: She died young in a convent apparently without complaint. The myth of her made her seem like she was never human or flesh and blood, but invented by some gooey sentimentalist.'
That's really depressing. Did you never read an encyclopedia?
I was in the 6th grade when I went with my class to visit Abraham Lincoln's house in Springfield IL. During the tour, I made sure I was the last person to leave the bedroom so that I could open up a drawer and touch the insides of it, something that other school children hadn't done. I felt as if I were shaking hands with the Lincolns.
Yes, I think it's good to acknowledge our smallness and pettiness sometimes. We can't all be giants.
That's really depressing. Did you never read an encyclopedia?