Wandering Along the Path: Right Speech

Last night my husband and I watched "The Count of Monte Christo" again.  As a kid I first read a comic about it, then a child's version, then by 12 the whole book.  I loved and am still fond of Alexandre Dumas.  I suppose I was a romantic, and still am.  We joked about the Chateau D'If, and imprisonment, but frankly, we've got it easy.  Poor Edmond Dantes suffered beatings, rats, and separation from his father, friends and fiance for 13 years.  It's a revenge story with a deep tinge of religion, a la the meek shall inherit the earth variety.  As a child I considered myself meek, we were poor, and I would have loved to have been a countess.  It played to my weaknesses, but it is also a great tale, full of wisdom about humanity.  That is why it still resonates.  As an adult, when I read a biography of Dumas, called "The Black Count" in his time, so much more was revealed.  This was a man of mixed race, on the edge of society, instead of a part of it, who triumphed, much like the Count of Monte Christo and the Man in the Iron Mask.  He had a passion for justice and the poor and overlooked, as did Victor Hugo, my other fave, and that still appeals to me.  Edmond Dantes, c'est moi!