By Rosie Moore

“We learn as much from sorrow as from joy, as much from illness as from health, from handicap as from advantage, and indeed perhaps more.”

These words were spoken by Pearl Buck and is my Thought for the Day, today. I first read her book, “The Good Earth,” when I was in high school. Then I read it again when my kids were in school. Every time I read it, I learned something new and it never ceased to enthrall me. I find that to be true with some fantastic books such as, “Gone with the Wind,” “To Kill a Mockingbird,” and other masterpieces of fiction. I can read them over and over and always learn something new.

Although she was born in America, she spent most of her life before 1934 in Zhenjiang, China, where her parents were missionaries. “The Good Earth” was the best-selling novel in the United States in 1931 and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1932. She began to write in her twenties, her first novel was “East Wind, West Wind.” Her interest in writing spread to countries like India and Korea, leading her to some activity in political journalism. She set up an agency for the adoption of Asian-American children and took an active interest in special needs children. She became the first female Nobel laureate.

Her first book, “East Wind, West Wind,” is the saga of a Chinese family while “The Good Earth” dramatizes family life in a Chinese village during the 20th century.

Many people say I’m a writer, and I appreciate that, although I’m not of the same caliber as Ms. Buck, but I notice one fact in every writer: it is imperative to write about what you are familiar with, about what you know. Ms. Buck wrote about life in China because she lived there. In my books I write about life in Pennsylvania because I lived there. I also like to read about the customs of other countries, which makes her books so interesting.

Here is another quote of hers: “The truth is always exciting. Speak it then. Life is dull without it.”  How true!

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