Harper Lee died.  So many people have died this year and its February.  One truth of life is you never know when it will end.  I’m not going to ret religious or philosophical about life and death.  I was simply stating the obvious. 

Harper Lee was an author who wrote a book entitled,” To Kill a Mockingbird.”   This book became part of the curriculum in many schools throughout the years.  I remember reading it for the first time in ninth grade.  Up to that point, I never enjoyed reading.  For me, it was a book that symbolized the conflict of innocence and evil.  In my mind it was a glimpse of how quickly like can change.  The setting was in the deep south in what seemed to be an easy, simple time for the kids.  Harper Lee allowed the characters to be creative, curious kids. 

The book walked the characters through the changing of their life’s.  It made them realize the impurities of life.  It made them explore who they could trust and what they could believe in.  All of these are things that we as child work through on our own on some level.

Harper Lee only ever published books.  Late in her life a book called, “Go Set a Watchman”.  This was a sequel to “To Kill a Mockingbird”.   I had heard that the Watchman book was an early draft written before she wrote, “To Kill a Mockingbird”.  The main characters are the same.  It was written from the viewpoint of Scout (the main character) as an adult.  It didn’t prove to be as rewarding of a read for me.  Maybe my expectations were too high.

Many thought provoking quotes stemmed from her original book.  One of my favorites is, “People generally see what they are looking for and hear what they listen for.”  It’s true.   People can hear an entire conversation and only take the 1 thing that they CHOOSE to hear.  Most of the time to justify their own beliefs. 

Another quote, “You never really understand a person until you consider things from there point of view….until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.”  Again, I think this still holds true today.  People are so eager to critique and criticize without understanding what is really going on for them. 

Lastly, “Mockingbirds don’t do one this but make music for us to enjoy.  They don’t eat up people’s gardens, don’t nest in corncribs, they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us.  That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird”.  Maybe that is a lesson we all need to work on.  Look at the values we all have, rather than the annoyances.

I always thought it would be fun to write a book.  I, however, know that I don’t have the ability to create and progress characters throughout a novel.  If I wrote a book, I suspect it would be a hot mess.  I am intrigued by Harper Lee.  She published 2 books.  One of which was a successful movie and won her the Pulitzer Award in 1961 for.  

I think daily we need reminders to pay attention to what is important.  Be open-minded.  When all else fails…….simplify, sit back and breathe.