Friday, December 30, 2011

Truth in "To Kill a Mockingbird"

So recently I re-read the book "To Kill a Mockingbird". First of all, let me tell you-that is a wonderful book, and if you haven't read it, you should! Anyways, it deals alot with bitterness and hatred. One of my favorite passages is this passage in the book. The main character is a little girl named Scout. Scout is talking to her brother Jem about hatred and prejudices that they see everyday. Jem says "You know something Scout? I've got it all figured out, now. I've though about it alot lately, and now I've got it figured out. There's four kinds of folks in the world..." Jem tells Scout the four "types" of people in the world, and tells Scout that they all hate each other because they come from different backgrounds. Scout later says, "Naw, Jem, I think there's just one kind of folks. Folks." Jem looks at Scout and responds, "That's what I thought too when I was your age. If there's just one kind of folks, why can't they get along with each other? If they're all alike, why do they go out of their way to despise each other? Scout, I'm beginning to understand something. I think I'm beginning to understand why Boo Radley's stayed shut up in the house all this time...because he wants to stay inside."
Although these are fictional people and this is a fictional conversation, I could not escape the truth in these few lines. When it comes down to it, there's just one type of people in this world: people. You can seperate them up into races, genders, ages, religions-whatever you want-but they all have something similar. They're people. Human beings. And no matter what they do or say or think, we should not treat them any less than what they are. People. Jesus never treated anyone less than that. Look at Mary Magdeline. She was an outcast. Yet Jesus accepted her with love. What about the lepers? They were dirty and sick. Nobody wanted them. But Jesus accepted them with love. What about the Samaratain woman at the well? She slept around and was an "easy" girl. Nobody wanted her. But Jesus accepted her with love. And my personal favorite-the adulterous woman. She was trash. Nobody wanted her. In fact, everybody wanted her dead. They thought she was worth more dead than alive. But what did Jesus do? He gave her life. he accepted her with love. The best way you can lead someone to Christ is by showing them Christ's love. Forget about their outward appearence, or their social status, or their personality, or their background or their past. Show them love. It's as simple as a smile or a hug or asking "How are you today?". Because no matter where they're from, or what they do with their life-they're still people. Because like Scout said, "There's just one kind of folks in this world. Folks."

1 comment:

  1. I love this post; it’s SO TRUE. I’ve never read the book, but I’ve seen the film and it was really quite powerful. It’s so vitally important for us all to understand that God sees us all as his beloved children and nothing less. <3 THAT'S love.
    Great post!
    -Kate

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