To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
I'm watching a PBS special on the Pulitzer Prize winning book (and later, movie) To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, and how ahead of its time it was. As I was watching it, it reminded me, in a way, of the Trayvon Martin case. Some quotes that I remember from the movie, which were refreshed in the PBS special, which gave me chills when I heard them...how relevant they are today:
"First of all," he said, "if you can learn a simple trick, Scout, you'll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view […] until you climb into his skin and walk around in it."
•"I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do." (quote about the character played by Gregory Peck, the attorney in a small racist town who defends a black man falsely accused of raping a white woman)
•"Mockingbirds don't do one thing but make music for us to enjoy... but sing their hearts out for us. That's why it's a sin to kill a mockingbird."
- Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird
Trayvon represents the mockingbird, of course. I can imagine the young man walking innocently through the neighborhood, back to the place where he's staying, after getting his candy and coke. And suddenly he's being followed. He confronts the man, not realizing the danger he's in?
= new reply since forum marked as read
but I can't remember who posted it:
