by Nelson HerasIn our lives, we all have come across that book that has touched our hearts and that have changed our lives forever. Books that stay with us for years to come. Thankfully I have three amazing books that have taught me things and have changed my life. The first being The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein, although a children's book, holds a great message. By that I mean that an adult reading this book will gain a great message from the plot and understand the book in perhaps a more complex manner. As a child I read many books, both for school and for pleasure, however, no book has engraved itself in my mind as this one has. When reading this book, you witness the love between the character of the tree and the "Boy" as the tree likes to call him despite him changing in age. The tree does whatever is in her control to make the Boy happy at all stages of his life even if it means taking a piece of her, literally and figuratively. You can see the love of a mother and child and how a mother, in this case a tree can love her child unconditionally and always do what she can to see her child happy. A mother will live her entire life to please their children, a happy child is a happy mother. This book changed my life because it taught me such a meaningful lesson at such an early age. I learned from reading this book that love can be so pure and unconditional and when we receive that love from anyone we should appreciate it and never take advantage of it. I've mentioned in many of my writings that I have never considered myself to be a religious person. Being religious for me (you may think otherwise) is pertaining to a specific religion, finding the need to attend church in order to feel God’s presence, and rehearsing specific prayers time after time. I do not believe in such things because I am a firm believer of God and know that He is where I am, despite the location. I don’t think that God’s presence is only felt in church and also, I don’t believe in praying the Hail Mary, but instead believe that talking to God is a much better feeling. That being said, the second book that has drastically changed my life is the Bible, in which has managed to get me out of many difficult situations in my life. Ecclesiastes, Chapter 3 is one of my favorite verses, it tells you that there is a time for everything, to be patient because the perfect time will come. "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven. A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted. A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance." Whether you are religious or not these are very wise words anyone can learn from. What I have learned is that everything happens for a reason and that everything that occurs in our lives, all our experiences, have a meaning. Sometimes we are not aware of that meaning, but it's there and sooner or later we will notice it. Again, I do not think I am a religious person, however, I am a believer of God and his miracles. I love God the way I feel I should, not how anyone or any religion tells me I should. My intention is not to offend anyone with my words, I respect every individual’s beliefs. The Bible is beautifully written and can be read and enjoyed by anyone. Memoirs of Hadrian by Marguerite Yourcenar is a book that has recently changed my life. The actual content of the book is not what changed my life, but because I read Memoirs of Hadrian the love I had for reading flourished once again. The book has a great message and I recommend it, but the gift it gave me was opening the doors for other books to have a greater impact in my life. The reason why I chose Memoirs of Hadrian as a book that changed my life was because it was the beginning of something beautiful. Memoirs of Hadrian is one of those books which you can read over and over again and each reading will always be different. As our life transitions and as we go through new experiences it’ll be a whole new book, however, it will always remain with the same essence. By reading this book I gained some life hacks, those being to live your life in the way that makes you happy, accept everything that enters your life because nothing in life is meaningless. Although Memoirs of Hadrian and the other books were a requirement to read in Professor Rougier's Death and Dying class, they all changed my life because they introduced other styles of writing and other genres that if it weren't for the class, I would walk by them in a book store. Nonetheless, I really enjoyed them all. Not only did these books make me start reading other genres, but it also changed my writing style for the better, which I am thankful for. All three books, although different in content all put in its grain of sand to help me become a self I am happy of, a different person I was before coming across these beautiful texts.
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