Because of a question a loved one asked me today, I wondered why I didn’t read self-help books as much as I read fiction. I mean, I do read self-help books, but not nearly as much as I read fiction. And it’s not just because fiction gives me a means to escape from my reality, whether bleak or exciting in that moment, but because I learn what it’s like to live and be a part of a world created from the depths of someone’s imagination.
It’s usually a source of amazement to me when I’m done with a really good fiction novel, what must have been in the author’s mind as he wielded his pen, and poured out his exciting or bizarre imaginations into the paper. I wonder how long it took, and whether or not he felt the kind of satisfaction I felt when I was done reading it, when he finished writing it.
But I’ve also learnt things that I would never have known. I’ve been open to a world of possibilities. Possibilities in the sense that fiction stories are also mirrors or reflections of our reality. Since it was written by a human, you find bits and pieces of the author’s personality, beliefs, and values, all sprinkled prettily in the story and this now serves as a guide to pick up whatever you want to learn and apply it to your reality. I know it’s a lot to take in. But it’s genuinely how I feel.
And this is why I’ll be presenting a book I love. Scratch that, I adore. I think I’ve talked about it in passing a few times. But thanks to this awesome initiative by @creativemary, I get to go in-depth and explain just how ideal this book is and the many ways it has gone in impacting my life and shaping my beliefs.
Cages by Peg Kehret
I got this book as a gift from my class teacher for taking first place in class in my first year of high school. Then, I’d been hungry. Extremely hungry for knowledge. I searched for books everywhere. Didn’t blink till I was done with a novel. It was one of the most inquisitive times of my life and when I was done reading it, which of course was the very day I got the book. Lol
So Cages, by Peg Kehret and as I later found out, Ed Gorman, was originally published in 1991, and it centres on Kit Hathaway, a fourteen-year-old girl who because of pressure and tension from home and school steals a bracelet from a store. But the bad thing is, she gets caught. So she has to do twenty hours of volunteer work at the humane society. She’s crushed and her Mom, no less. But she does it anyway, in an animal shelter and this act opens Kit’s rather narrow-minded personality to an understanding she wouldn’t have gotten if the ugly experience hadn’t happened.
I wish the wealth of experience she got here was the basis of this post or what impacted me in this book. But no, there’s another side to it. Before Kit got caught shoplifting, one of the disappointments that drew her to the mall that day was the school play she’d worked so hard to be a part of. She’d been vying for the lead role, Frankie, in the play. And when she got to school that day, she found out that not only did she not get the part of the lead role, she wasn’t even given a part at all. And to add insult to injury, the role had been given to the name of her existence and the most arrogant girl in class, Marcia Homer.
It was like a slap on Kit’s face. How could Miss Fenton, their English teacher give the part to someone who didn’t deserve it? But then Miss Fenton came to speak to her(and this is the part I’m talking about) and she said to her that she knew she wanted the part and she also felt that she could handle it, maybe even better than Marcia. But when she had to choose, she chose Marcia. That it didn’t mean Marcia was better than her, but it just meant that this time, she chose her.
It’s a statement I’ve held to my chest for almost a decade now. And recently, I got to remember it because some time ago, I’d badly wanted a role and when it was given to someone else when I was almost sure I’d get it, that conversation came to mind. It doesn’t mean the person who got the role is better, it just means that this time around, the person was chosen.
The fact that I didn’t get the role was not a discredit to my talent. Someone else got it, and that was okay. Many times what we fail to understand is that the reason we didn’t get something is because God is either saving us from something or maybe wants to teach us or/and the other person a core value that was lacking in both of us. It’s a wonderful thing if we learn to trust in the bigger picture.
It made me think of all the times we second-guess ourselves as people. Where we begin to doubt our self-worth because we weren’t picked for something. Where we began to feel that we were lacking in something, intellect, emotional intelligence or what have you. Cages made me understand that the self-doubt wasn’t right, amongst other things.
Another statement that changed my perspective of life in this book, was a quote. “This minute is passing. It’s passing and you’ll never get it again.” It’s a clarion call to never miss an opportunity. To take the plunge no matter how bleak it seems. To take hold of the minute cause once it passes, it would never come again. It was beautiful and even though I fail to do that sometimes, it’s still in a big part of my subconscious. To always take hold of the minute. And be more appreciative of its uniqueness and all the things we can achieve with it.
It was beautifully nostalgic, reliving this. Till another time, don’t forget to maintain positivity for today and of course, tomorrow.
Jhymi🖤
Here's the initiative by @creativemary if you want to check it out.
Thumbnail created by me with Canva.
Other image is a screenshot from my e-library.
