It's a Sin to Kill a Mockingbird!

Today the universe is telling me I need to blog on To Kill A Mockingbird...

Last week I sent my great-niece a hardcover of the book To Kill a Mockingbird, for her 14th birthday.  This morning just after I realized the movie was on, my great-niece sent me an email message thanking me for the for book and elucidating that she has always wanted to read it.  I told her this is one of my favorite books and weirdly the movie based on the book is on television right now.

So I just watched the movie, To Kill a Mockingbird...yet again.  And I am always blown away when I see Boo Radley.  I know he's going to be there, but I'm always surprised to see him.  My memory is good that way, allowing me to see things as if it were the first time. 



So today has been a wonder of reading online, all things To Kill a Mockingbird.  This book has so many amazing thoughts embedded inside, it's like a treasure trove.  I find it hard to believe that it was intentional on Harper Lee's part...I'm of the feeling that she was just telling an incredible heartrending story and magic happened.   Pulitzer prize-winning magic.  Banned 17 times, as recently as 2009.  While there are things that happen in this book that are unacceptable, is was set in Alabama in 1960 and is true to what was happening in society at that time.  AND IT'S FICTION, PEOPLE!

To me the main themes of the book involve racial injustice and the destruction of innocence.   The mockingbird represents true goodness and innocence that should always be protected.  In this book, Boo Radley and Tom Robinson are both "mockingbirds."

So maybe my point is this...there are mockingbirds in all our lives,  and we need to protect and celebrate the fact that this goodness and innocence still exists. 

I believe that people are generally good at heart.  Some just lose their way and need to recall their direction.  So there is still hope for us all.

 

As Atticus was wont to say, "It's not time to worry yet."


So go gently in this life, making sure to listen to the Mockingbird's song...

Miss Manners and the Missing Manners

Sunday I was aggravated...common courtesy and manners have flown out the window with people recently. Rudeness assaults you at every turn.
 

Don't let me get started about the group of people (who've had noise issues in their apartments) who partied 24 hours a day for 3 days outside my apartment during Hurricane Isaac. Who then told me, I was rude when I asked them if they could please take the party to their apartment (as it was after 10PM) so I could get some sleep.

 

Sunday morning, someone who borrowed something from me, pounded on my door before 9AM. Then while standing less than ten inches from my door, lit a cigarette (I do not smoke and NEVER have). I could barely open the door.  She never spoke or looked at me, but flung the borrowed item sideways to me, then walked away. I was so astonished I said, “Thank you.” Which was ridiculous, since she borrowed it from me.

Shortly thereafter, my neighbor had her music turned up so loud I could barely concentrate on what I was typing? I have no idea how she could be in her apartment with it so loud, I wanted to flee mine.

Daily, people come into the book shop and do business while on their cell phones. Sorry people, but nobody is that important. That you should be so rude as to totally ignore the person who is helping you, speaks volumes on your character, and makes me know that I do not want you in my personal life.

Oh, and they walk around the book shop and the atrium outside the shop carrying on their conversation so loudly, that I know they're getting a divorce and what the *sshole spouse is trying to do to screw them or the fact that they're meeting someone at the Starbuck's on Harrison Avenue at noon. Seriously people, take your conversation to your car or home...we don't need or care to hear it.

 



 

And I was never taught that shouting "Travel" or "Bestsellers" or any single word is sufficient when asking for something? In the real world, "Could you please tell me where the travel section is located?", would be a question that might be asked.

For those of you who text and answer your phone while you're having dinner, lunch, drinks or just visiting with a friend, your manners are lacking as well. (Unless it's a medical or child/sibling/parent related emergency...your phone should not even be visible.) Be where you are at, while you are there.

Say please, and thank you. Smile and treat people they way you wish to be treated. Revisit your childhood and use the manners you where taught as a child. And if you were never taught any manners, shame on your parents. But it's never to late to learn, please.