I’m Randy Feldman.
The town I live in, Boylston, recently had a great event sponsored by our local One Book, One Boylston organization. Our whole community was to read the same book and join in a discussion of it at the library. The book chosen was To Kill a Mockingbird, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of its publishing. Because a lawyer is the main character in the book, I, as a lawyer, was asked to be on the panel to discuss the book.
I am not a great book or novel reader by any means, though I read newspapers vociferously. I also read what I need to for my legal career, which can add up to a lot of non-fiction reading.
Maybe because I had a TV in my bedroom growing up (a big mistake) my leisure time, high school and college student reading habits have never been really good. In fact, I’m really an extremely deficient reader of novels and fiction.
But I was honored by being asked to participate, and after accepting, I had to read the book.
At first I struggled mightily to get through it. In fact, for the first 150 pages I was fighting fatigue, boredom, and myself, just to keep reading. But then finally the book’s drama and meaning took off and I started enjoying myself immensely.
It had been so long since I read a novel I couldn’t remember if all books took time to “get into” or if it was just To Kill a Mockingbird, that went from completely boring, while setting the scene, to completely gripping when presenting philosophies, conflicts and their resolutions.
What most impressed me about the book is what it teaches us about developing a person’s character and how religious the book was, without being a religious book.
The book’s dialogue and suggestions about developing one’s character makes one think about how we are supposed to act. Here are a few lines and some paraphrased euphemisms from the book:
People in their right mind never take pride in their talents.
You never really know a person until you stand in that persons shoes and walk around in them for awhile.
Don’t be cynical, even when telling the truth.
The one thing that doesn’t abide by majority rule is a person’s conscience.
I couldn’t go to church and worship God if I didn’t try to help that man.
To further quote the book or paraphrase its dialogue concerning what I generally consider religious matters, it says:
I am a nig**r lover, I do my best to love everyone.
In the name of God, do your duty, do what you know is right.
We’re so rarely called upon to be Christians, but when we are we have men like Atticus (who was the book’s protagonist) to act for us.
Most people are real nice when you finally see them.
The book also describes a situation where a witness was humiliated by a lawyer’s cross examination which publicly exposed him as lacking any personal dignity or morality. After the court proceedings this witness spits in the face of the attorney, an act witnessed by the lawyer’s children.
The lawyer gives the following explanation to his children about what just occurred:
“I destroyed that man’s last shred of credibility, if he had any. The man had to have some kind of comeback. I just wish he didn’t chew tobacco…but if spitting in my face saves his daughter one extra beating, that’s something I’ll gladly take.”
The books lesson was about how hard it was for people in the deep Deep South to see blacks as equals in the 1950’s. It was about how blind people can unintentionally be towards other human beings dignity and their equality. It made me think about how history might one day judge us today as being blind to people’s dignity and equality? I wondered about who we might be doing this to?
Homosexual people certainly come to mind.
But I also thought that perhaps a couple hundred years from now we might determine that it was wrong to primarily look out for people from one’s own country- fellow Americans in our case- more than for people from any and all countries in the world- who deserve equal consideration and empathy. We now look at someone as not as fully human or equal if they live in another country. Maybe that’s wrong. Maybe we should all look at all people simply as citizens of the world, not with the belief that people in one nation are to be favored because they are inherently superior or exceptional compared to others, or that one group of people is due allegiance if that allegiance excludes all other people. Maybe nationalism is more of a destructive than constructive force, I thought.
As for finally reading a novel, which I mostly did in a café or library, I was surprised and embarrassed that I laughed, gasped out loud, and teared up at a certain part of the book- just sitting there by myself reading. The book made me feel so alive I just blurted out, though I felt a little like a social loser being so publicly expressive while sitting there all alone.
I also thought that...but for a book like this...but for literature or a real religious school experience – not the one hour a week type most of us go through...where would we learn or think about these incredibly important life lessons on building one’s own personal character. I think our public schools are going to have to do a much better job of ethical instruction, on how to live right, if we are going to reach our potential as people.
This is Randy Feldman on WCRN’s Midday Report True Talk 830. To hear more of my rants visit bigmouthmanifesto.com.
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