One of the things I’m most excited to do with this blog is to share the books that I’m reading. I’ve got kind of a secret that I’m going to share with you. Ready?
I hate self-help books.
Not all of them. Some are pretty good or super informative and practical. But for the most part? Blech. They’re terrible. Not only are they not all that helpful, they’re also super boring. I’ve spent the better part of my adult life investing in mental and spiritual health both for myself and others and I just hate pop psychology books or ones that are supposed to guide you through whatever emotional thing you’re facing. And here’s the really big thing about reading: research shows that non-fiction reading actually doesn’t help you relationally. But fiction? Reading fiction is associated with higher performance in social ability. Reading non-fiction was actually negatively associated with that (Mar et al, 2005).
So typically when I recommend a book in session it’s got to be a story. It doesn’t have to be fiction, but it has to have a plot. I recommend a lot of biographies or memoirs because those stories carry so much impact. They’re stories, but they really happened. And the thing is, when we start to identify with a character or person in a book, we watch them through this whole story. We watch them stumble and make terrible decisions. And then at the end of the book when they get what they wanted, we cheer for them. That helps us find empathy within ourselves – both for the people in our lives as well as for ourselves.
So anyway, sometime in the spring I got an email talking about this new musical that was going to be coming to a theater near us. I’d never heard of it and for some reason it had really piqued my curiosity so I looked into it and found that it was based on the book, The Day the World Came to Town by Jim DeFede. And the story just completely captivated me. I think I read this book in 2 sittings.
Basically, on September 11, 2001 when the terrorist attacks began here in the US, our government made a call to shut down the airspace over the US, which had never been done before in the history of aviation. But what that meant was hundreds of planes that were currently in the air had to ground somewhere. And a lot of those planes were coming to the US from other countries. Canada made the incredibly brave decision to accept most of those planes (because no one knew if there were terrorists on any of them). 38 of those planes, carrying just over 6500 passengers were diverted to a small town of just over 10,000 people in Newfoundland. From there, the people of Gander spent several days hosting the people from those planes in their community center, schools, churches, and in some cases their homes. They provided meals and clothing for the families and helped them get in touch with loved ones. They comforted and supported them as they grieved the events of that day.
I was 15 when the events transpired on that September day and I carefully followed the news for the weeks and months afterward as we began to understand what had happened. Terrorism was a completely new idea for me at the time. But sudden and dramatic loss wasn’t. Afterall, it was just under 18 months earlier when we were first introduced to mass school shootings through the Columbine High School tragedy. But in all of my news watching, I don’t recall ever hearing about Gander, Newfoundland. It instantly reminds me of the quote from Mr. Rogers, “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’”
Therapeutic Elements
So let’s be clear here – I started out with an easy one. This whole book is therapeutic. The book is wholesome and uplifting. You do read some of the harsher details of the attacks, but nearly every element of the book restores your faith in humanity.
More specifically, this book is excellent for those who are in the process of breaking out of that cloud of grief. The book bounces around from story-to-story so you don’t stay with any single family or storyline too long at a time, but it shows the face of acute grief and the people who are willing to sit with the individuals in it. I know that I was inspired to be the kind of helper I saw in the book.
I think it’s also a great take on “you never know what someone is going through”. The people of Gander could only assume they had displaced people, but no other details. You find out as you turn the pages that one family has a son who is a NYC fireman. And you pretty quickly see that the mother reacts to the kindness and comfort differently than some of the others in the story.
But here’s the short version: if you want to feel a little better about the world we live in, if you’re desperate for a story that will load you up with warm fuzzies, if you want to see the real ugly of the world being beaten back by the real beauty in it – this story is for you.
Listen guys, I’m not a professional book reviewer. You aren’t going to see books on here I don’t like in some way. I’m not trying to go out of my way and find great works simply begging to be included in the modern literary canon. I’m just going to share what I like to read and why I keep it on my shelf in my office. This book is one of those great books that just lifts you up.
If you happen to read it I’d love to hear your thoughts on it!