Is Not This To Be Rich?
At the very end of the novel Bleak House by Charles Dickens, the protagonist Esther described her life married to Allan Woodcourt. He was a doctor who sought to help the sick who were poor. She wrote, “We are not rich in the bank, but we have always prospered, and we have quite enough. I never walk out with my husband but I hear the people bless him. I never go into a house of any degree but I hear his praises or see them in grateful eyes. I never lie down at night but I know that in the course of that day he has alleviated pain and soothed some fellow-creature in the time of need. I know that from the beds of those who were past recovery, thanks have often, often gone up, in the last hour, for his patient ministration. Is not this to be rich?” I love that idea about what riches are—the ability to help and heal others. Woodcourt was not wealthy in money, but he was rich in knowledge so that he had the ability to care for and help heal the sick. This reminds me of the words of the Savi...