Written in response to the Daily Post’s Daily Prompt:
Quote Me
Do you have a favorite quote that you return to again and again? What is it and why does it move you?
Through the character of Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird, author Harper Lee shaped my ideas and attitudes about courage and race from a very early age. Perhaps the most radical thing my mother, who was hardly a radical herself, ever did was to take me to see the film version of the novel.
As soon as I was able, in those days before E-readers made every book easily accessible, I checked To Kill a Mockingbird out of the Floyd County Public Library in Floydada, Texas. There were adult ideas embedded in the book that I did not yet understand, so I read the simple story of Scout and her brother.
I read the book again and again through the years after buying the paperback edition at a garage sale. With every reading I gained new understanding. When the physical book finally fell apart I downloaded it onto my Kindle, and I read Atticus’s story at least once a year.
The quote above about real courage speaks volumes to me, especially in these times of fear mongering and gun worshipping. My fervent hope is that more people would make Atticus’s words their own.
It remains a wonderful book and Gregory Peck the perfect actor for the part. There is so much wisdom and compassion in it, it should be compulsory reading/viewing.
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Not terribly long ago I was able to watch the movie in a theatre. It still captivates me.
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I read and re-read To Kill a Mocking Bird in high school. A values lesson wrapped in a wonderful story. Scout was the sister I never had and, yes, our neighborhood had a Boo Radley.
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We sort of had a Boo. She was a cranky old lady who laid traps for unwitting children who came into her yard. I was scared to death of her!
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