Book to Life

This past weekend, we had the privilege of attending a multi-stake conference. We heard from several church leaders including Elder Marlin K. Jensen, Sister Ann Dibb, President Boyd K. Packer, and President Dieter F. Uchtdorf. Elder Jensen was so fun - I really felt like I saw a side of him that I never would have if I hadn't attended the conference. He was witty, he was funny, and he was real. Sometimes with leaders in our church, it is difficult to remember they are human beings (at least for me). His talk was really inspiring and also very appropriate for me at this time.

He spoke, in essence, about accepting people who are different. He told us about his brother who was handicapped, about the good and the bad he experienced because of his disability. I felt this message more powerfully because I just recently finished a short book, Stuck in Neutral, told from the (fictional) perspective of a teenage boy who has cerebral palsy and has no control over his body.

It was very interesting to imagine this kid who had serious (and also teenage-boy-like) thoughts, who had learned to read - by accident - and who understood what was going on in his life and his family's life. But, his family had been told that he was a "vegetable" - that he really had no conscious thoughts and didn't know what was going on. And they all treated him accordingly. His father's struggle was particularly painful to read about.

It really helped me to "climb in someone else's skin" and feel how they might feel.

BOOKS

...they make us get outside ourselves. I guess those are some of the best things literature can do for us - broaden our perspective and make us rethink our actions and habits. They can even change us. Sometimes, I find myself responding to handicapped individuals in uncomfortable ways. Having not had contact very often with anyone with disabilities, sometimes it is hard to know just how I should act, or why I have to wonder how I should act.

I have a lot more thoughts about books (shocking?) and I will have to write another post about another book that figuratively kicked me in the shorts. Until then, pick up a book and CHANGE!!