Here's the first question.
Day 1: What book has had the greatest impact on your life? In what way?
The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf. It's a book about this peace-loving bull who's been raised for the bullfights. Ferdinand would rather contemplate flowers and the sky than fight. My mother read this book to me when I was little and, once I learned to read, I carried my tattered copy with me everywhere. I have fond memories of sitting beneath our neighbor's willow tree on balmy Corpus Christi afternoons, lemonade glass at the ready and Leaf regaling me, yet again, with Ferdinand's peaceful exploits.
I think on a deeper level my child's mind understood the incredible courage it takes to be true to oneself, especially in the face of society's derision, as Ferdinand was. And I understood the joy and serenity nature offers to those who turn away from destruction (bullfights) and instead turn to flowers and the sky.
To this day I abhor any kind of violence and would much rather sit beneath a tree contemplating flowers and the sky. Much like Ferdinand.
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