Saturday, February 14, 2009

Happy Valentine's Day

I hope this finds everyone feeling loved by someone. Well it has been an interesting start to February. As you know I ended January by breaking my ankle. I am up walking around in my walking boot. I do have the aid of a walker but must still use the wheelchair at school. I just had my fourth eye surgery on Thursday. The bad news was there was so much scar tissue build up from the first surgery that the surgeon had to take care of it before she could work on the muscle. The good news is that my vision is much improved. It is almost as good as it was before my vision started giong south. It appears that I will need a slight prism in my lenses and all will be well. I have not done a lot since Thursday. There has been much more pain and swelling and this time I have a black eye. This too shall go away. We have been packing to move in two weeks. I have been of little help so far. However, I have read a really great book.

If you are not familiar with Neal Shusterman then you must read some of his books. I have just finished his book "UnWind". Imagine you live in a world where society values life so little that they can have you unwound. If you tick off your parents and you are over the age of thirteen and under the age of eighteen they could sign a piece of paper that would send you off where your body would be hacked apart and sold to those who need or want them. Your hand gets crushed in an accident? No problem, if your parents have the money to buy you a new one. It doesn't matter that it comes from another kid who gave up their life for it. Then there are the tithes. Children who are raised to believe that they are a gift to God. They are the ten percent of their parent's lives given to the Lord. They are doted on because they are special then taken to the havest camps where they are taken apart. The book is so intriguing I couldn't put it down. It made me wonder if we will ever get to this point in our lives where life means so little. This is a must read.

While I was unable to work I did more research on East Germany. I was shocked to learn that after reunification that so many people on the East side were afraid of losing the benefits they had. They forgot about the things they did not have. To me is seemed ridiculous and then I realized, for years these people had been told that their life was the only way there was. When they went to the West after the wall came down it was too much too fast. It amazed me to learn that Germany is one of the largest importers of bananas. The people on the East side could seldom get fruit and especially not bananas. This type of lifestyle was a form of slow brainwashing. The only ones who wanted to escape were those who were dreamers and not afraid to risk everything, including their lives to try to reach those dreams. We in America don't realize how lucky we are to be able to reach for our dreams, that nothing but ourselves can hold us back if we want something bad enough.

1 comment:

  1. Happy Belated Valentine's Day to you! I found your member thread on 2YN and subscribed. I look forward to following it. I hope your move goes well and the issues with your eye get worked out. That book "UnWind" sounds positively horrifying. I'll have to look into that. It's a sick premise, but interesting nonetheless. Sometimes I see these ideas that sound either entirely new or at least novel (no pun intended) takes on familiar concepts and loathe the fact that my own 2YN novel idea sounds so common. Best of luck in all things! John

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