During my quest to uncover the truth behind the greatest teacher I have known, I learned a great deal about myself. Spending a lot of time with people of different cultural backgrounds has opened my eyes to other worlds. While I have learned a great deal from the people I have known, it would be far too difficult to attribute my abilities to only one person. Some of my earliest memories begin around 1979. That would have made me around three years old, give or take a month or two. I am proud to say that learning to read is amongst those early memories. I have learned so much from that time on that it’s no wonder some people refer to the brain as a sponge. I love to read. I’ve learned many things, including: religion and moralities, history, crafts, and of course there’s reading for fun.

The book I learned to read from had an orange cover with red scripted writing and gold edged pages, My Book of Bible Stories, (copywriter by Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc. 1978). I can clearly remember the colorful pages filled with fascinating stories about faith, courage, and heroism. This proved vital to the foundation of my Christian upbringing. With these values in mind, my mother guided my reading, as I have done for my daughters. My mother found volumes of children’s literature to assist with her plight. From truth and honesty to determination and good will, reading is a great teacher in a world with no manuscript.

My book learning did not stop at building moral character. I have learned history. In African People in World History, John Henrik Clarke says, “History tells a people where they have been and what they have been… an understanding of history tells a people where they still must go and what they still must be.” To make a positive contribution to society, I have begun my trek into the past. The attainment of this knowledge, has affected my spirit and like Mahatma Gandhi, I am enlightened. While learning of the struggles and triumphs of yesterday, I continuously aspire to recreate the passions once held when admiring simple knacks that have contributed to the lives of so many. I have embraced the crafts of my ancestors, and learned of how these crafts aided our forefathers in everyday life. I have even followed the simple drawings in a book to learn how to knit!

Reading for enjoyment has always been easy. As a child, my favorite teacher changed like the weather as I raced through literature. From the Five Chinese Brothers, by Claire Huchet Bishop & Kurt Weise to Cloudy with a Slight Chance of Meatballs, By Judith Barrett, my imagination thrived. Detecting with sleuths like Nancy, Bess, Frank, Joe, and Chet, within the covers of so many Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys Mysteries by Carol Keene, I learned to look between the lines for the obvious. Danielle Steele carried me into womanhood with passion, suspense and remorse with Kaleidoscope, Thurston House, The Ring, and so many more I haven‘t enough space to name.

My attention has been captivated by so many ingenious authors, like Sidney Sheldon, Toni Morrison, and even Dale Carnegie. It’s only fair to say that while I enjoy human interaction, and realize the benefits of the same; collectively, I’ve learned more from literature than any other source (unless you count my mother). I learned about my Savior in the greatest book, The Bible: King James Version… I learned about the histories of various cultures and civilizations in other books including: Before the Mayflower by Lerone Bennett, Jr. and The Diary of Anne Frank by Rian Verhoeven and Ruud Van Der Rol, and Western Civilization: The Continuing Experiment by Noble, Strauss, Osheim, and others. My desire for sultry prose has in the past been quelled by poetry and books like Aurthur Goldens’ Memoirs of a Geisha. My greatest teacher has been the books I have read, as the information I have amassed has increased my awareness of the world around me.

Bibliography

Louis Untermeyer. Modern American Poetry: an introduction. New York: rcourt, Brace and Howe, 1919; Bartleby.com, 1999