"And if your parents have your for a reason, than that reason better exist. Because once it's gone, so are you." (page 8, My Sister's Keeper)
I just started My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult. I'm only on page thirty but I already know that this book will make me cry and think. Just from the beginning Anna's (main character and little sister) situation is double sided and horrible. How would anyone like to be told that she was born so that her sister may live? That, even though she is loved, she was hand picked for her genetic similarities to her sister? The other side is, how could Anna allow her sister (Kate, the one with acute promyelocytic leukemia) die just because she didn't get a choice to choose whether she wanted to give Kate blood cells, bone marrow, and eventually her kidney?
All I can think about is my sister and I and what I would do if I was in Anna's situation. How would I handle being born to harvest parts for someone else? Would I ever choose to allow my sister to die just because I had never gotten a choice in the matter? At this point I can't imagine not giving up everything to allow my sister to live, but I wasn't born for my sister. It is hard to imagine.
So far it's a really good book, I'm already addicted and I've barely started. I can't wait to see what Anna decides and how it is decided.
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
People are not fish....
"Even a fish wouldn't get into trouble if he kept his mouth shut." ~Author Unknown
It's true, as soon as we open our mouths we are putting ourselves in the position to say a wrong thing and get into trouble. But is trouble such a bad thing?
I have a large mouth when I feel like something unfair and not right is happening to me or those around me. But if something isn't said then, yes, nobody would get in trouble but also nothing would change. What if Rosa Parks would have shut her mouth and moved from her seat? I am not at all comparing myself to Rosa Parks. All I am saying is, my entire life I have gotten in trouble for the arguments I get into. I know by now that I may get fired from jobs and I may lose the respect of my bosses and peers but is it really a bad thing if something changes in the long run? I guess the key is to learn to pick our battles, something I haven't quite mastered yet. :)
It's true, as soon as we open our mouths we are putting ourselves in the position to say a wrong thing and get into trouble. But is trouble such a bad thing?
I have a large mouth when I feel like something unfair and not right is happening to me or those around me. But if something isn't said then, yes, nobody would get in trouble but also nothing would change. What if Rosa Parks would have shut her mouth and moved from her seat? I am not at all comparing myself to Rosa Parks. All I am saying is, my entire life I have gotten in trouble for the arguments I get into. I know by now that I may get fired from jobs and I may lose the respect of my bosses and peers but is it really a bad thing if something changes in the long run? I guess the key is to learn to pick our battles, something I haven't quite mastered yet. :)
The Kite Runner
I just finished The Kite Runner. If you haven't read it, you should. It was a fantastic book with a great ending that atoned for sins in a good way. Even though the novel's setting and content was so far from anything in my life, I still felt like I connected to the novel in a few ways.
Amir (the main character) lost his best friend (Hassan). I know that we have probably all felt the loss of a friend but what really ticked me off about Amir was that he didn't even attempt to reconcile his friendship, in fact he did the opposite and tried harder to break the ties between Hassan and him. Being a person who speaks my mind too much, I find this extremely annoying in a character. It was hard for me to continue to read about somebody whom I saw as a coward and dishonest. However, the longer I read the novel the more I saw similarities between me and the character that annoyed me, Amir. I realized that I too was allowing a friend to be lost because of situations (much different from Amir and Hassan's) and even though I tried in the beginning, I gave up. I was annoyed at Amir's cowardliness until I discovered that I was doing the same thing, less obviously, and also couldn't manage to stop, just like Amir.
It's extremely hard to see our mistakes in life. I think that is why I love reading so much. I connect or don't connect with certain characters and I usually have no idea why until the end of the book when I all of a sudden understand that I am just like them in a certain way. Amir made me understand the cowardliness we all have in certain situations.
Amir (the main character) lost his best friend (Hassan). I know that we have probably all felt the loss of a friend but what really ticked me off about Amir was that he didn't even attempt to reconcile his friendship, in fact he did the opposite and tried harder to break the ties between Hassan and him. Being a person who speaks my mind too much, I find this extremely annoying in a character. It was hard for me to continue to read about somebody whom I saw as a coward and dishonest. However, the longer I read the novel the more I saw similarities between me and the character that annoyed me, Amir. I realized that I too was allowing a friend to be lost because of situations (much different from Amir and Hassan's) and even though I tried in the beginning, I gave up. I was annoyed at Amir's cowardliness until I discovered that I was doing the same thing, less obviously, and also couldn't manage to stop, just like Amir.
It's extremely hard to see our mistakes in life. I think that is why I love reading so much. I connect or don't connect with certain characters and I usually have no idea why until the end of the book when I all of a sudden understand that I am just like them in a certain way. Amir made me understand the cowardliness we all have in certain situations.
Monday, December 13, 2010
We're not alive.
"Look, I don't want to wax philosophic, but I will say that if you're alive you've got to flap your arms and legs, you've got to jump around a lot, for life is the very opposite of death, and therefore you must at very least think noisy and colorfully, or you're not alive." -Mel Brooks
When reading this quote, all I can think is, "We are not alive". We sit in desks all day. We ask to go pee. We are escorted to class when tardy. How is this living by Mel Brooks’s definition? When we jump around and flap our arms we are thought to be crazy hooligans with no manners.
Other than only not having the freedom to be hyper every once in awhile, we also don't even have the freedom to make our own decisions and think for ourselves. Apparently, when an assignment doesn't involve a textbook then it isn't an assignment. When we are forced to think outside of our small school and look at our whole community or world, then we are just wasting time. When our thoughts don't agree with others, than we are wrong. At least that's what I hear...
Well maybe that is how High School has to be...for some. Those who can't handle the maturity of a decision on their own may need a textbook to guide them. But for me, I need a lesson which will help get me to "real" life. I need to learn to make big girl decisions so that when I truly get to be alive, I will know how to live. I would think all High School students need that push into society, that guidance into our own goals and projects, but maybe I'm wrong...
When reading this quote, all I can think is, "We are not alive". We sit in desks all day. We ask to go pee. We are escorted to class when tardy. How is this living by Mel Brooks’s definition? When we jump around and flap our arms we are thought to be crazy hooligans with no manners.
Other than only not having the freedom to be hyper every once in awhile, we also don't even have the freedom to make our own decisions and think for ourselves. Apparently, when an assignment doesn't involve a textbook then it isn't an assignment. When we are forced to think outside of our small school and look at our whole community or world, then we are just wasting time. When our thoughts don't agree with others, than we are wrong. At least that's what I hear...
Well maybe that is how High School has to be...for some. Those who can't handle the maturity of a decision on their own may need a textbook to guide them. But for me, I need a lesson which will help get me to "real" life. I need to learn to make big girl decisions so that when I truly get to be alive, I will know how to live. I would think all High School students need that push into society, that guidance into our own goals and projects, but maybe I'm wrong...
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