“The book to read is not the one which thinks for you, but the one which makes you think.” – Harper Lee
As many of you may know, Harper Lee, the author of “To Kill a Mockingbird,” passed away in her sleep Friday February 19, 2016 at the age of 89.
I was deeply saddened when I learned of her passing. The lessons that Lee’s “Mockingbird” had illustrated are lessons that I’ve carried with me since I first read it in 6th grade. Scout Finch’s struggle with her faith in the goodness of others was a storyline that I found comfort in, knowing that it wasn't uncommon to struggle with the same thoughts.
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Here are the three most important lessons I learned from Harper Lee that helped me in a time of my life where I was growing, changing, and losing things in my life that I could not quite comprehend.
1. Sometimes, life just isn’t going to be fair.
If you’re familiar with the plot of “To Kill a Mockingbird,” you understand. Atticus Finch was a lawyer (and was Scout’s father) who worked tirelessly to defend Tom Robinson, a man of color wrongfully accused of rape. The book takes place in Maycomb, Alabama in 1960, and Atticus was met with much grief for defending a colored man. Even though Tom’s accuser was lying, he was still found guilty and was lynched.
When I first read the book, I was so angry. The truth, the evidence, the justness was all there. How couldn’t they see it? Were they blind? In the end, the “right” thing didn’t happen, justice was falsely served. This opened my eyes to the fact that the right thing isn’t always going to happen—sometimes you give your all and try your hardest to do the moral thing, and sometimes it still isn’t enough. There are going to be times in life that even when you’re doing what’s fair and right, it just isn’t going to work out.
2. “Courage is when you know you’re licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what.” –Atticus Finch
This quote was something that I struggled to understand. I remember thinking, “Why should you even try if you know you’re screwed from the beginning? What’s all of the work worth, if the outcome isn’t what you worked for?”
The answer to these questions can vary person to person. I learned as I’ve experienced more that the fight says more about a person than the outcome of the fight does. Heart, drive, and passion are necessary in life to stay true to yourself. If something is important to you, respect yourself and your beliefs enough to give it a chance, even if the odds aren’t in your favor. The journey and the struggle aren’t defined by the outcome, but in what you learn on the way to the outcome.
3. “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view…until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.” – Atticus Finch
This was my first true lesson in seeing other people as just that, people. We walk around every day, interacting with and ignoring other people. They can make us angry, sad, happy. There have been a lot of times where I’ve caught myself judging people for their actions without even considering their point of view. We spend a lot of time focusing on ourselves and how others’ actions affect us, both positively and negatively. It’s not common that we sit down and truly see it from the other person’s side. This taught me that to truly understand any situation, you have to look at it from every angle and every life involved in that situation. Making a snap judgement based solely on your feelings is unfair.
Harper Lee is among a handful of authors that fueled my love for reading and my passion for writing. “To Kill a Mockingbird” was one of those books that I stayed up late on school nights reading, hunkered under the covers with a flashlight while I quietly flipped the pages. Her insights and truths of life that she shared helped shape me into who I am today.
Thank you, Harper Lee for all that you taught me and the likes of me, and may you rest in peace.
