A Reflection on Pinocchio
Written by Colleen Hutt, Well-Read Mom Director of Literary Evangelization
I was coming off a busy work week, getting ready for our daughter to return home from her first semester at college, checking in on my father, who was having surgery, tackling the mountain of leaves needing to be raked off our lawn, and preparing to help host the Well-Read Mom National Conference in Milwaukee… and just when I thought I was at my limit, the water heater decided to go kaput. My husband Colin and I spent the evening ripping up flooring and getting fans out to dry the baseboards and cabinets. I was feeling drained. Yet somehow, all the pressing things got done. The next day, Colin left on business. I felt a sense of accomplishment for having handled the new wave of weekly demands and decided to prepare a nice dinner for the kids to reconnect after a week of distractions. But then, a storm came through. Sophie called from the basement, “Mom, there’s water everywhere!”
NOOOO! Not another thing to deal with! As the pasta timer was going off, I had to abandon dinner prep and rush into the crawl space, armed with a squeegee, to usher the water into a drain before it threatened all our beloved items in storage. Resentment welled up inside me. I thought, Isn’t it enough, Lord, to deal with the things of the past week with relative calm without having yet another thing to face? When will it end? Why do I have to deal with this problem too?
I emerged from the basement, dust covering my Sunday dress pants, wet and grumpy. I shook myself off and decided to make a cup of tea. Sitting down in my reading chair, I noticed Pinocchio: With Reflections on a Father’s Love was open to Nembrini’s commentary on Chapter VII. I began to read: “‘The unexpected is our only hope’… when nothing is working [like water heaters and concrete!], when we’ve been wronged, when life wounds us to the point of robbing us of our awareness of the truth, and we wind up on a different path entirely, the solution is the same: Someone or something must intervene from outside to call us back, to remind us how things stand.” Umm… I was intrigued. The water pouring out from the basement wall was certainly unexpected. I continued reading because I needed a new awareness of the “truth” of my life.
In Chapter VII, Pinocchio runs away from home. Geppetto gets arrested. Pinocchio returns home and accidentally burns off his feet. When Geppetto is released from jail, he finds the pitiful Pinocchio, with burned stumps for feet, starving. Geppetto rises to the occasion, recrafting Pinocchio’s feet, forgiving him, and making him breakfast. No sooner does Geppetto give Pinocchio the pears he intended for his own breakfast, than Pinocchio demands Geppetto peel them as well! Nembrini continues,
“We are all like this. No sooner do we receive a merciful gesture than we turn it into a demand… Everything, everything is given to us. All of it could have never existed… We should be bursting with gratitude, but instead we start tallying up the things that don’t go our way: it’s raining, my back hurts, my kids are dragging their feet and making me late… Everything becomes the occasion for complaints, demands, and blame.”
Reading these lines, I began to feel smaller. Justifying my resentment for another problem started to ring hollow. I do not want to live in resentment. I needed a different way to look at this problem.
I began reviewing my last week anew: so many volunteers helped to make the conference an incredible experience; my 16-year-old son woke up early to deliver 300+ swag bags on his day off from school; I met so many beautiful women who share a passion for literature and meaning; the plumber came to replace the water heater the next day, even though his father-in-law had just died; my father’s surgery was a success, and I could pick up the phone and hear his voice… I think you get the picture. I began to see the leaking concrete block in a new way. It was a “surprise” – an unexpected moment to wake me from my slumber and remind me to be grateful. Rain is renewing the earth. I have a squeegee to use and work to do. I have a home! Nembrini’s reflections of the story of Pinocchio reminded me, “This is the choice we have: to lead with gratitude because everything is given, or else with resentment because things are not as we wish them to be… Without effort and suffering, we simply do not grow up.”
I grew up a little that afternoon. I whispered a prayer of thanksgiving for this book, for my participation in Well-Read Mom, for my home, family, and friends. I reheated the pasta in the microwave, lit the candles on the dining table, and invited the kids to dinner with a changed heart. I offered a prayer for everything I was grateful for – including the water in the basement. I hope my changed countenance was a moment of surprise for them as well.
The Well-Read Mom edition of Pinocchio with Reflections on a Father’s Love is a rare gem because we are presenting Carlo Collodi’s original tale alongside extensive reflections made available in English for the first time by Franco Nembrini. Nembrini focuses his reflections on Geppetto’s love for Pinocchio and, in doing so, unveils tremendous depth to this story. When we discovered these reflections in Italian, we knew it would be a perfect choice for the Year of the Father.
About Colleen Hutt, Well-Read Mom Director of Literary Evangelization
Colleen Hutt graduated from the University of Notre Dame’s Program of Liberal Studies. She has worked as a DRE in Venice, FL and as a Pastoral Associate for Adult Formation in Whitefish Bay and Fox Point, WI. She and her husband, Colin, have five children and one grandchild. Currently, Colleen serves as Director of Literary Evangelization for Well-Read Mom. She is passionate about growing in her faith, revitalizing culture, and approaching the struggles of modern life from the heart of the Church. Colleen is the co-author of The Well-Read Life: Nourish Your Soul Through Deep Reading and Intentional Friendship and speaks throughout the country on the transformative power of reading literature for personal and spiritual growth.
About Well-Read Mom
In Well-Read Mom, women read more and read well. Our hope is to deepen the awareness of meaning hidden in each woman’s daily life. We long to elevate the cultural conversation and revitalize reading literature from books. If you would like us to help you select worthy reading material, we invite you to join and read along. We are better together! For information on how to start or join a Well-Read Mom group visit our website wellreadmom.com
