In today’s world it seems more and more people are losing
their faith in humanity as a whole. It
is not difficult to understand why this has happened. News channels constantly bombard with stories
of crime, war, and disease. The
financial crisis that began in 2008 has touched almost every life in the United
States and untold numbers of people around the world. Many people have lost jobs, homes, and
hope.
Loss of faith in humanity is not a new phenomenon. The great physicist Albert Einstein said in
his era that “perfection of means and confusion of ends seems to characterize
our age.” One example of a loss of
humanity people today are all too familiar with are those who witness an
injustice and do nothing – except take a video of it with cell phone cameras to
post online. This, too, is not something
limited to our age. Einstein also
commented on this issue, saying that “the world is a dangerous place, not
because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.”
Fortunately, television and movies can have a positive
effect on a person’s faith in humanity as well.
Television series such as Touched
by an Angel and Highway to Heaven helped
depressed or troubled people and showed there is still goodness in human
kind. There are few people who have not
at least heard of the movie It’s a
Wonderful Life, where a kind-hearted man falls into despair but has his
faith renewed.
Through the years, the written word has also had a powerful
influence, and often times authors can have a profound effect on the opinion of
the masses. The author of Charlotte’s Web, was a strong supporter
of a writer’s duty to uplift the human spirit.
In 1973, the author received a letter that spoke of the letter writer’s
loss of faith in humanity. The author’s
response is a testament to the power of the written word to uplift:
As long
as there is one upright man, as long as there is one compassionate
woman, the contagion may spread and the
scene is not desolate. Hope is the thing
that has left us, in a bad time.
Now, more than ever, people need uplifting prose to remind
them why humanity is not a lost cause. Lisa Boucher’s Jesus, Mo and Cheese Puffs is just such a manuscript. Flo and Mo Brown, the main characters, are an
elderly couple who have seen their share of adversity. Their only son died as a teenager. Flo has a deformed eye from a car
accident. Yet through all this, Flo has
never lost her faith in Jesus or her love for Mo… and oh yeah, a love of cheese
puffs. Mo is a bit more jaded, but Flo
has a way of making him see the best in most things. When Flo wins on a scratch off lottery
ticket, there are so many things they could do, but Mo has an idea. He wants to take Flo to a TV doctor in
California for plastic surgery on her eye, and the two set out from Indiana for
an appointment in California.
But, as with real life, the couple is often sidetracked
along the way. In every place they stop,
they find people in need – some financially, some spiritually – and Flo being
who she is cannot help but help them. Mo
is wise enough to follow Flo’s lead, sometimes leading to new outlooks on
life. Every person Flo touches is
uplifted and has at least a little faith in humanity restored thanks to her
kindness. In the end, Flo learns a great
lesson about herself and how often the only limitations people have are those
they put on themselves.
Jesus, Mo and Cheese Puffs is available in Kindle edition on Amazon - click here
