HomeschoolrsRUs
06-13-2006, 05:51 PM
Bargaining with the devil by Burt Prelutsky - Jun 13, 2006 (http://www.townhall.com/opinion/columns/BurtPrelutsky/2006/06/13/200765.html)
Perhaps it's this way with most writers, but in my life books have often played a larger role than have people. Filled with wisdom, joy, tears and laughter, they are everything parents, friends and siblings should be, but rarely are. And very early on, one book in particular taught me a lesson I have never forgotten.
[ snip , snip ]
In a roundabout way, "The Grapes of Wrath" taught me what great books always do. It showed me who I was—an eleven-year-old wimp, a groveler for grades. But, more important, it made me realize who and what I wanted to be. A's, I learned, are cheap, but principles are dear. It was the last time as a writer or as a person I ever consciously betrayed my own convictions.
The lesson I came away with, thanks to the unlikely combination of Steinbeck and Vanderhaven, is that when you sell out, you inevitably get less than you bargained for—whether you're Faust or a fifth-grader. <!--#include virtual="/includes/ads/ad-detail.inc" -->
Perhaps it's this way with most writers, but in my life books have often played a larger role than have people. Filled with wisdom, joy, tears and laughter, they are everything parents, friends and siblings should be, but rarely are. And very early on, one book in particular taught me a lesson I have never forgotten.
[ snip , snip ]
In a roundabout way, "The Grapes of Wrath" taught me what great books always do. It showed me who I was—an eleven-year-old wimp, a groveler for grades. But, more important, it made me realize who and what I wanted to be. A's, I learned, are cheap, but principles are dear. It was the last time as a writer or as a person I ever consciously betrayed my own convictions.
The lesson I came away with, thanks to the unlikely combination of Steinbeck and Vanderhaven, is that when you sell out, you inevitably get less than you bargained for—whether you're Faust or a fifth-grader. <!--#include virtual="/includes/ads/ad-detail.inc" -->