The Giver

I didn’t know if I was going to put this under ‘blogs’ or ‘reviews’. Just wanted to ramble my thoughts so here it goes...The book “The Giver” ,hit me straight to the heart. It’s a good thing that a few high school students (?) are obliged to read this, since it opens up to a lot of philosophical ideas. And this is one of the statements that struck me (Chapter 13): “We really have to protect people from wrong choices”.

When I was reading this book the first thing that popped into my head was the movie “Pleasantville”. It was all black and white – everything was …well in their terms “perfect”. Everyone had a designated role; responsibilities and expectations were set and everyone had to live up to them; no one can ever feel hungry and everyone was part of a family.

Imagine a world without color. So how do you see the magnificence of a rainbow? How can you actually achieve that feeling of APPRECIATION?

Imagine a world where the word love is forbidden to be used. So what keeps you going each day?

Imagine a world where personal freedom is not practiced, simply because society wants to protect people from making the wrong choices. The community doesn’t want people to experience hurt, pain and suffering. Ideal, huh? Hrrrm...

What I love about this book is how it highlights the concept of freewill. Yup, one of the greatest blessings given to us by the Man up Above. It may result torment. It may cause us that feeling of regret. But I strongly believe that so much beauty can come out of it. Like…

You get to appreciate yourself more and the world around you.

You get to express to someone how much you love them a thousand times over and never get tired of it.

You get to learn your lesson and have the strength to share it with other people (and inspire them!)

You get to save people from their sins just as what the Big Man Above did when He was crucified.

No matter how hard we try to protect each other from different choices and putting ourselves in a cookie cutter world (or stereotyping, eh?) – At the end of the day – the colors will still be vibrant, emotions will still overflow and love will forever remain unconditional.

No one has the right to complain in the world he or she is in now – because the truth is; it’s so wonderful! Savor it. No one can blame anyone but themselves on the choices they make because no matter how long the agony is, no matter how painful – (let me stress it out once again) something good or maybe I should say something GREAT, will always come out of it.

Kudos to Lois Lowry for writing this book, at least I know the next generation will get to appreciate the splendor that life has to offer them.