People Who Most Influence Us
I know that I've pretty much just
written stories about my family in this blog, but it is my story, so
this one is more or less about me.
Reading was always a challenge for me
when I was younger. I spent my beginning years in a Catholic grade
school. The nuns felt I was being lazy and just didn't care to learn
to read. This was not true. I would try and read out loud, but it
just didn't go well for me. My mom would try and help me at home and
she did help. As time went by, I learned to read to myself, but I
really couldn't read out loud. As difficult as it was to learn to
read, I loved it. I would read almost anything if it looked
interesting. Reading was and is hard because this is how it looks to
me most of the time, (unless I'm concentrating): “Pain suffering
and are alwyas inevtiable for a large intelligence and a deep heart.
The really men must, I think, hve great sadness on earth.”
― Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and
Punishment
This is where the story for this blog
begins. It was late summer before the beginning of my freshman year
of high school. I was at my favorite place - the book store on Hwy
70W going out of Eagle River. The store keeper and I had become
friendly over the summer and suggested I try a look section of books
and pointed me towards classic literature where I found this book.
Fast forward to the first week of
school, when I walked into the basement classroom in the "old”
high school of freshman English being taught by Ms Kathleen Hnath.
I walk by her desk and she gives me a copy of the textbook "English
2200". At that time Ms Hnath sees the book I'm reading and asks
me; "Who asked you to read that book?" I told her no one,
it just looked interesting to me so I bought it. She asked a few
questions, “How far was I in the book? Who was Rodion Raskolnikov?
What did he do for a living?” etc. I answered her and she liked my
answers. Then she did something that totally surprised me. I was told
that as was long as I was reading this book and understanding it, I
didn't have to do the lessons in the textbook, because what I was
doing was beyond what the book was teaching. Ms Hnath, was one of
the first teachers, who encouraged me to think outside of the box.
That not all things to be learned were in textbooks, and that my
thoughts and abilities were equal to some students and better then
some others, that I was smart. You see, up until this time I thought
that because I didn't read out loud or didn’t do math as well as
others, I wasn't as good or as smart as they were. After finishing
"Crime and Punishment", I did have to go back to doing the
same work as the rest of the students in my class. Ms Hnath, always
asked me about what books I was reading and what I thought about
them. While in her class I opened myself up to reading JRR Tolkien
for the first time (I've read the trilogy several times since),
Vonnegut, and Andre Norton to name just a few. I realize that Ms
Hnath doesn't probably remember me, but I would like her to know how
much she influenced me to feel better about myself and that she
opened a door for me which lead to worlds within so many other books.
