Day 23 - A picture of your favorite book

We were assigned to read it in high school....in fact, my teacher, Mr. Barber, would read it aloud for us in class....while others slept, I felt it. It was a perfect fit for me. All my friends were dropping out of high school and I was beginning to feel more and more like education was not meant to be learned in a classroom. Have you read it? There were so many undertones that stressed the need of learning vs the need of having a social life in high school.

Mr. Barber -- He was my favorite teacher; it seems like everyone else hated him.... He understood me. Sure, he was a little inappropriate with the girls and sure, he might have been drunk half the time...but he meant well. And he taught well. He pushed me to write. He was the first person to tell me I had a gift. He said he felt my emotions when I wrote; I write, in a large part, because of him. It was also Mr. Barber who beelined for me after the announcement that my dearest friend, Aaron had died. He grabbed me and hugged me and said something that meant a lot to me at the time. The FIRST person who knew that Aaron's death was going to be a pivotol turning point in my life. When the year was over (Aaron died in Feb.) I asked him to sign my yearbook. My yearbook has since been burned in a fire, but from what I remember it told me to appreciate my friends and family. He told me to take the high road (first time I'd really heard that) and that I was smart and needed to make smart decisions. I wonder if he somehow knew I was treading on very shaky waters. I lived on those words for a long time. I wrote him a letter when I was in college just to thank him. I have no idea if he got it or not. Mr. Barber later got fired...I heard for being drunk....who really knows.... but he saved me that year...and should be recognized for supporting my love of writing.... anyway....

I read Catcher in the Rye again as an adult...it moved me more. A couple favorite passages....

"Among other things, you'll find that you're not the first person who was ever confused and frightened and even sickened by human behavior. You're by no means alone on that score, you'll be excited and stimulated to know. Many, many men have been just as troubled morally and spiritually as you are right now. Happily, some of them kept records of their troubles. You'll learn from them - if you want to. Just as someday, if you have something to offer, someone will learn something from you. It's a beautiful reciprocal arrangement. And it isn't education. It's history. It's poetry." (24.60-62)

I just love that. Education to me was cut and dry but seriously, people, it isn't. It's much like this blog. Long after I am dead and gone, my children will read my words and learn something (perhaps) from the life I have led....KEEP RECORDS...it's so important to me....a legacy of sorts...and education worth learning.

And my most favorite....a quote that has lived through the times with me:

"Here's what he said: 'The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of the mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one.'"

I love that.