Something that can be very hard for people is staying positive through everything life throws at us. However, all the memoirs that were presented this week had something in common; they all featured a central character who lived through their experiences and then prospered because of a great outlook on life. In almost all of the memoirs including: Lucky, Marley and Me, The Liars Club, A Stolen Life, Glass Castle, and Lone Survivor, the main character took their various hardships and found growth in them. Instead of wallowing in the past they decided to remember it, learn from it, grow from it and move on.
The past is a collection of little bits and pieces of who we are and when we gather them all up we get who we are today. In situations like in Lucky by Alice Sebold where a woman is raped her first year in college the past can hold you down and keep you in its grasp or you can choose,like her, to get back up and move on as a stronger person.
For me, staying positive is an ongoing struggle. It is comforting and inspiring to me to know that people who have incredible, heartbreaking and moving stories can move forward as a force to be reckoned with. Jaycee Dugard the author of A Stolen Life and Marcus Luttrell author of Lone Survivor both took their experiences and helped others in similar situations find happiness.Both opened charities to help and support others.The ability to hunker down and move forward despite a hardship and even help others along the way is something that I like to think is in all of us.My mind immediately goes to the lesson most of us have hear our entire lives; when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade.
The story of the most impact to me was The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls. Everything about her and her story is positive. Through everything that she had been through, homelessness,poverty and hunger she remained brave and clung to the hope of a better future. She became a poster child for what a positive outlook can do for you with hard work and a little luck. Jeanette Walls is an incredibly brave and positive person who inspired me through her hope for the future and positive demeanor.
The memoirs that were presented on this week all had powerful messages about humanity and memory. Everyone's story is different and from each one a lesson is to be learned. The most impact-full stories to me this week were Lone Survivor, Two Kisses for Maddie, and A Long Way Gone.
In Lone Survivor, Marcus Luttrell tells his story of war and his internal conflicts. Marcus Luttrell deals with the internal conflict of faith in humankind. At the beginning his faith is shot down with the two sheep herders however his faith is then restored in his experience with lokhay. This stark contrast in the two types of people Luttrell dealt with in the war helps to break down stereotypes. This is very interesting because although Luttrell describes his attackers with racial slurs people of the same race protect him and return him to safety.
Two Kisses for Maddie is very different, this story tells of Matt Lauglin and how he deals with the birth of his daughter and the death of his wife in a 27 hour period. The main lesson that can be taken from this book is that life is unexpected and sometimes you just have to pick yourself up and roll with it. Lauglin's story is heart wrenching yet he finds solace in his newborn daughter and finds happiness in her. The book illustrated the two certainties in life: birth and death. It is important that the life in between those two things is lived well and to the fullest.
While Two Kisses for Maddie was heart wrenching, A Long Way Gone strikes a cord in the heart that is unforgettable. This is a story of Ishmael Baeh, a child soldier in Sierra Leon. He travels around the country fighting for what he believes is right leaving a path of death and destruction. While it is easy to believe that the problem of child soldiers is far away and unrelatable it is a very real problem. Child soldiers often find inspiration in American war films so in a way America is promoting a revolting social conflict. The world as a whole has a responsibility to protect humankind. The fact that these helpless children are suffering from a horrible,corrupt government is a testament to the fact that humankind has lost some of its conscience.Hopefully, the book will bring awareness to the cause and slowly people will start standing up for the cause and making a difference. Even if only one child is saved they can change the world. Just look at Ishmael Baeh.
