A book that touched my heart

                A book that touched my heart

No. I am not going to talk about Harry Potter. Or Percy Jackson. Or The Da Vinci Code. They all are brilliant books but they never touched me emotionally. I felt like I was a character in those books. But it is a different experience in the book I am going to talk about.

"Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry' is a book written by Mildred.D.Taylor. It talks about the hardships and plight of the coloured children in Jackson, in the southern state of Mississippi. Simple gifts, those that we consider ordinary and take for granted are a blessing to them. 

They walk for hours to school while the white children with a heart full of contempt come to school in a bus, never thinking about their predicament if they were coloured. They however enjoy the simple blessing of education and are fascinated by receiving a book of their own as none of them have their own book other than the Bible.

This quagmire that they face changes their normal habits and conscience. The predicament a person is in makes them, not their abilities. The predicament they were in was one of racism faced by many of their ancestors. Although many took the solving the problem of racism as a hopeless case, Taylor repeatedly talks about Stacey's mother and Mr. Morrison whose aim was emblazoned in bold and were not affected by the taunts of the whites.

Simple acts against the whites like not going to the Wallace store or driving the Packard next to the whites so they would bow down to you confirm the fire in them with which they fought this system.

She also makes a point of talking about the hardship faced by children in their everyday life. They had become so accustomed to the injustice that it became a habit to praise the whites while putting themselves down. The realization of the discrimination at a young age was immediately quietened by their parents who told them to be happy for the life they had been given. This was the state they were in. Overwhelmed by fear and too scared to voice against it due to its ferocity.

The modern age has evolved but for some of us our conscience includes a small piece of racism put there by the family gossips and fights among our friends. We need a breakthrough against racism. A small change in decision-making can bring about a big change in humanity.

They were treated like it was a crime to be born as a coloured person and were encouraged to hate their identity while the burning fire of injustice spread throughout the hearts of the people of USA. How would it have been to know that your actions would be condemned everywhere ? How would it feel if your life was a crime?

Like Atticus I say - You never understand a person until you consider things from his point of view........until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.

Just try in those small gossips to instil a new thought; to push a new reality; so that there is a new future.