One
saying I liked what she said was, “The truth is a liquid, not a
solid. It takes on many shapes.” This statement is so true. The
truth can be whatever you want it to be. You can form the truth, mold
it, and make it your own shape. No one has to tell the whole truth,
but he or she has the option of telling bits and part of the truth or
all of the truth.
I
loved how her favorite memory that she had as a child was when her
father let her have the planet Venus as a Christmas present. Even
though her father did not own Venus, the thought of letting her call
it her own was so cute. She said it was a priceless treasure and that, “It is what you make of it.” Instead of being sad because her dad did not physically buy her a Christmas present,
she treasured the idea that her dad was at least trying to give her
something. It made me be more appreciative and have a different
mindset on how I view life. It is what I make of it, and no one can
say otherwise.
Another
lesson I learned from Jeannette Walls was when she said that when she
was little she had a fear that some creature was hiding under her
bed. She went and told her dad and instead of checking under the bed,
they went to go look for the demon. She said that, “We should not
run from our demons. Instead, harness your demon and use it to your
advantage.” Her demon was her past and the shame she had from it.
To face her demon, she wrote this book. This was inspiring because
life should not be about running from your fears. I cannot learn from
life’s lessons if I always run in the other direction. Facing my
demons will only make me stronger as a person, and who knows, the
outcome may be rewarding.
Jeannette
Walls also told us that, “Everything in life is both a blessing and
a curse. We get to choose which one we want to focus on.” It is
true. We have the opportunity to either focus on the good or bad in
our lives. If we have the decision to choose, why not choose to focus
on the blessings? I loved how instead of her moping around and saying
how her life sucked, she thought of her past as a blessing. She
thought that she was the lucky one because her parents never made fun
of their children’s dreams. Instead of focusing on the negative in
her parents, she thought of the good in them and accepted them as who
they were. Honestly, I am amazed that someone like her can be so
accepting. Personally, I would have hated my parents and would have
never wanted anything to do with them. I would have been so upset
that they could not take care of me and that I could have had a
better childhood. But this made me realize that we cannot change
people. We cannot mold them into what we want them to be. Merely we
just have to accept them for whom they are and focus on the positives
in them.
Lastly,
I loved how she said that, “Secrets are like vampires. They suck
the life out of you, but once you release them, poof, they are gone.”
I loved this analogy because it was so vivid and so true. Secrets
drain us. They bring us down. Once you tell your secrets, it is like
a heavy weight has been lifted off your chest. Secrets do bring us
down, and they are not healthy for us.
All
in all, I loved all her analogies, and she made me realize that
someone that has had a negative childhood like her can still go far.
It gave me this burst of energy to go out and do what I dream of
doing. She was most definitely an inspiring speaker and writer.
By Annarose Dale
I am a freshman at McKendree University majoring in Business Administration and possibly Accounting.
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