More Than Just A Comfortable Place

Nothing seems to clear my mind and forget all my worries like an evening surf session with a few of my buddies.  It became a regular thing that I would do most days after school, or after work.  No matter how stressed out I was, or how bad the day went, it didn’t matter anymore after I paddled out.  I suppose that’s why surfers get the stereotype of beach bums sometimes. When you find that place of comfort, you don’t want to go back into the “real world” to face reality.

Having a place of comfort is essential for everyone.  Whether it be surfing, friends, hiking, writing, or simply eating certain foods, our comforts assure us that everything is going to be okay despite the circumstances.  In the book, A Question of Power by Bessie Head, the main character, Elizabeth, relies on her comforts to keep her spirits up as she faces discrimination and even hospitalization after being on the verge of suicide.  She seems to find herself at home when she is in her garden and also when she is with her friends.

When she was given a job working in a vegetable garden, Elizabeth quickly found that she not only loved gardening, but she was also very good at it. She especially likes the Cape Gooseberry (a nonindigenous plant) because she can relate to it.  The locals used to call Elizabeth Cape Gooseberry because she was different and not a local.  But in her garden, she didn’t focus on all the negative. She used the garden to escape, and explore without the outside pressures. The book states “The vegetable gardens seemed to Elizabeth the greatest adventure she was ever to undertake” (p.72).

Elizabeth also experienced a great amount of comfort from her real life friends.  Tom, a volunteer from America has come over to help and gets to know Elizabeth.  The two found a bond from the beginning.  She felt that Tom was an old soul, and felt safe talking with him.  Tom is an important character in Elizabeth’s life because she feels compassion for him, and was able to share her soul journey with him.  It is Tom who came into her life that helped pull her out of her depression.

Elizabeth, like me, feels security and hope in her places of comfort.  Her garden and her friends help her to experience life, and pull her out of her struggles. Without our places of comfort, the crazyness of the world will eventually bring us down.  But finding that comfort place in each of us is what keeps us moving on.