This past Friday, Feb. 19, the world lost a true revolutionary novelist.
Harper Lee, author of one of the most well-known novels in the nation titled "To Kill a Mockingbird" and newly published "Go Set a Watchman", died at age 89 in Monroeville, Alabama.
And the nation felt it.
Anyone who has ever taken a high school class has experienced the legacy that Lee planted with "To Kill a Mockingbird."
She was a catalyst to a revolution and a conversation about race, and still is to this day as thousands of students across the country sit down in classrooms and study this book collectively.
As a young student myself, reading "To Kill a Mockingbird" ignited a desire for justice in my heart.
Reading Lee's words, I learned that no matter how different another individual in my life was than me, it never placed me on a higher rank than them - it only gave me an opportunity to love them well.
I fully believe that this is what Harper Lee's intentions were with writing this book.
Although society today is different than it was in the 1950's when Lee wrote "To Kill a Mockingbird" as a first-hand witness to racial segregation, it is no different how easily we can fall victim to discrimination at anytime in 2016, or anytime in our future.
Although racial judgement is a large issue in our history, today we realize that race is only one part of a much larger umbrella of potential prejudices.
Race. Age. Gender. Sexuality. Lifestyle. Religion.
All fall victim to the damage that is false judgment and narrow-mindedness.
That's not what we were created for.
I believe Harper Lee intended through her novels to set straight a very foundational truth that must ring true in the heart's of all people:
That no matter how contrasting someone is to you, no matter what society screams in your face, no matter what the world shoves at you, you are to love all people, and love them well.
You are to stand up for those who cannot stand up for themselves, because nobody deserves their value to be based off of what their skin color is, what belief system they practice, what lifestyle choice they make, and so on, and some have been placed under constant intolerance their whole lives and cannot stand up for themselves any longer. That's where you and I are called to step in and do something about it.
Harper Lee's foundation of awareness of how ugly discrimination is was only the beginning of this country's steps towards justice and love. Let's be the hands and feet of bravery today as a generation whose eyes have been opened, so that we can carry forth Lee's legacy to a universal level.
The classic pioneer with a beautiful yet bold heart may have passed, but her purpose will never diminish.
“Real courage is when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what.” -Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird
