Hope Grows In A...

Book Club: the place where people force you to spend precious reading time with books they're interested in (and you couldn't care less about).

Generally, I'm not a huge fan.  After reading something from book club, I typically shelve it and never pick it up again. But sometimes--when I swallow my pride and/or inner whiny monologue--I have a genuinely positive experience with authors and genres outside of my comfort zone.

This months selection, The Rent Collector by Camron Wright, was just such a read.  Though the story is ficticous, it's based on the lives of individuals who lived in and made their living in a city municipal waste dump in Cambodia.


I'm the first to admit this is a rather grim setting, but as I hit the last page today, a quote from The Office came to mind:

Granted, when Michael Scott and Dwight Shrute, who are conversing at the city dump, drop this one-liner, it's meant to be funny.  Or at least ironic. (Seriously, it's The Office, if your funny bone's not tickled, you're due some sort of refund.)  However, in terms of The Rent Collector, this quote rings true. No matter what the family's circumstances, parents want the best for their children and will sacrifice what is necessary to make it a reality.

…the desire to believe, to look forward to better days, to want them, to expect them—it seems to be engrained in our being.  Whether we like it or not, hope is written so deeply into our hearts that we just can’t help ourselves, no matter how hard we try otherwise.  We love the story because we are Sarann or Tattercoats or Cinderella.  We all struggle with the same problem and doubts.  We all long for the day when we’ll get our own reward. (The Rent Collector)

Stories of good versus evil, of characters struggling through their journey to reach their happily ever after, are universal.  No matter the culture, these sorts of tales are passed from generation to generation to encourage hope. So, yes. Hope Grows in a Dump.  And anywhere else it can find ground fertile enough to take root, all it needs is a little encouragement.

To learn more about The Rent Collector, Camron Wright's other projects, or The River of Victory video that inspired Camron's story, please follow the imbedded links.