I know I quite frequently recommend books for you readers to pick up. They're usually banned books or things like terry pratchet. rarely are they anything with a religious undertone. But religious or not, I wholeheartedly hope every one of you takes the time to pick up the book Same Kind of Different As Me by Ron Hall&Denver Moore. It's nonfiction and probably the most inspiring thing I've read since Randy Pausch's Last Lecture (which I also wholeheartedly recommend.). And not just because it's religious based because it is a story of some genuinely good people. People who I aspire to be like. People like my Pappaw who never met someone who wasn't their friend and would give the shirt off their back if they thought it would help. And I think it is something that each person who reads it will take something different out of it, whether it be how to participate in volunteer programs, how to deal with the loss of loved ones, how to learn from mistakes. for me, it was my problem with letting people in. I recognize this problem and sometimes I try to correct it, but more often than not I run away before I really get to know anyone because I'm afraid they are going to hurt me. And granted, some people I've let in have hurt me, very deeply. But there are also people who i've grudgingly let in who have shown me what it is like to be a real friend, a real honest to goodness good person. But there were several places in this book that I started to cry, and we all know that 1. I don't cry and 2. I definitely dont cry over a book. But one paragraph upon reading it made me cry like a baby. Why? because i saw myself through the same eyes that a homeless, former cotton-picker, former prisoner saw himself: "I don't know how, but you knowd that most a' the time when I acted like a bad fella, it was jsut so folks wouldn't get too close. I didn't want nobody close to me. It wadn't worth the trouble. Besides that, I had done lost enough people in my life, and I didn't want to lose nobody else." And that is exactly it. Thats me. And if this person could overcome far greater obstacles than anything I've ever faced, then maybe I could learn to let people in too. Like him I just need people to love me enough to stand up to me. Stand up to me until I let you in.
The point of this post was not to throw myself a pity party or sound even stranger than you probably think I am. And it was not to try and push my beliefs on you. All I want is for you to read this book. I think it's an important book and I'm glad Kellie txted me the other day to tell me to buy it. I don't normally just immediately go buy a book thats recommended to me, usually it sits in my amazon wish list for awhile. but this one i did and i didn't know why. i got online there at work and ordered it with express shipping. and now i know why. and if you want to borrow it i'd be more than happy to let you.
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