Making a Change

The section, " Digging Up the Land Mines," in Soul of a Citizen, in which David Lewis transforms himself from one of the lost boys to a well-adjusted functioning portion of society comforted me. His life seemed like a maze at first in which he kept retracing steps which led him back to the same dead ends; fortunately, he ended up almost transforming that maze into a labyrinth in which he found his end point, fulfilling his destiny through his own transgressions as a degenerate and remodeling himself and others as well as the place they called home. What strikes me most is that not even the standard, degree-holding person is able to actually reach that point of being able to say, "This is what I was meant to do." Call me cynical, but most people do what they have to only to get by. David Lewis inspires as he literally dragged himself out from under a bridge and used his own life lessons as a springboard for a different high.

On the weekends you're getting high," David explains. "You've
got your money, your drugs, maybe a girl. Then it's Monday, your
money's gone. You have to start all over, broke and hurting. That's
why all the blues songs talk about 'Stormy Monday' and 'Blue
Monday.' You have to steal to get what you need. That's when
you feel desperate and people kill each other. (146)

This quote from the article shows you just how realistic you have to be when creating change. I mean, who better to "dig up the land mines" than the man who planted them? You wouldn't want someone teaching who had not been taught themselves. And furthermore, someone who can actually relate to the addicts and thugs as someone actually having been there years before has a better chance of implementing a desire for change because he's able to actually show them that there is a better life out there.

Taking your own story and being able to place it in the hands of others so that it betters them isn't easy. Empathy isn't easy to push upon people, but relating to others around you and inspiring those not able to place themselves in your shoes, thats where it starts.