Life Lessons

Throughout the book, To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, Jem and Scout learn many life lessons from the adults around them. I believe that one of the most important life lessons that they learn is that life is not fair, and that people are judged by things as stupid as the color of their skin. That if one group strongly dislikes another, they will do things to hurt them no matter how unfair or terrible those things may be, without any reasoning behind their actions except for the simple fact that they dislike them.

This lesson, taught by Tom Robinson's trial and the people of Maycomb County, teaches Jem and Scout to see through simple things, like the color of someone's skin, their sexuality, or even someone's sex, and to treat everyone equally. It teaches them that the world is flawed and that not everything is the way it's supposed to be, that many people are demented and oblivious to life's true meaning. But most of all, it teaches them to look at everything with an open heart, to not let their minds be clouded with stereotypes and racism, but to give everything and everyone an equal chance.

This is an important lesson to learn, for if you don't, you will never be able to see the world the way it truly is. You will never be able to look at things with an open mind, or be able to unprejudicely make a decision. You will never fully be happy for you will be punishing those you do not like just for the reason that you do not like them. If you don't learn it as a child, if you allow your mind to be clouded, you will have to live with the consequences, and if it is not you who pays, it will be your descendents. When Atticus and Jem are talking about how the people of Maycomb county could, because of the color of a man's skin, prosecute him when he was so clearly innocent, Atticus turns to Jem and says, "I don't know, but they did it. They've done it before and they did it tonight and they'll do it again and when they do it---seems that only children weep." This shows how most people never learn to treat all equally and that because of it innocent people are punished for things they didn't do.

I have seen many innocent people punished for things they didn't do. I have seen the quiet kid who doesn't talk punished because he is an easy target for other kids to push their bad behavior on. It has changed the way I look at life and the people that I talk to and am friends with. It has affected me in many ways, most of them being good ways, if not great.