Having parents that raised me the “old fashioned way” is a good thing in my eyes. After all, they did make me the person I am today. I was raised to be polite, treat everyone with respect, to be myself and show leadership. My mom, growing up went to church every week and had been raised with religion as a big portion of her life. My dad on the other hand was religious but not as much as my mom was. That all changed when my mom and dad met. When I was born, I was baptized in St. Paul’s Church. Ever since that day, I have incorporated religion as a big part of my life as well, just like my mom. I feel if I didn’t have religion as a big part of my life then I wouldn’t be the same. Being raised as a Christian, I was taught to have my own standards, morals, values and beliefs. I’ve learned overtime that I must follow my morals and beliefs and not care to try and fit in with others. If people don’t like me for who I really am and only for what they want to see, well then I honestly do not need them in my life. One moral I truly believe in and will stand by is no pre marital sex. I don’t believe that it is right to have sex before marriage. I truly don’t see the rush in it. I think if you want it to feel right and to feel special you should wait for the one you love and plan on spending the rest of your life with. I don’t think Holden has had the experience I had in my life because if he did I bet he would view pre-marital sex like I do. I don’t think he wouldn’t want to rush in it as much if he saw things differently. I feel a big portion of the way I think of things has to do with my level of maturity. I have two older brothers; Bob is 23 and Mike is 21. I have grew up with guys all my life because I’m the only girl in my family including cousins and all. Because of this, I have seen the difference of maturity in myself and in the guys. Both guys and girls have a balance of maturity levels. Bob and Mike were always really close. I think it’s because they both had common interests and their really close in age but once I came into the world, they knew I was something special. Both brothers would confide in me with things when I was at an age where I could understand. Whether it was about girls or sports or even my opinion on the way they looked. I feel it was because I was their
baby sister and only sister. I know Mike, being closer in age with me than Bob, is closer. He would tell me things that I understood and would help him get through or I would even help him out on his outfit selection. It kind of reminds me of Holden’s relationship with Phoebe. Though, I know sometimes I wouldn’t understand things either. Like, why Mike could do certain things but I couldn’t or why he would kick me out of his room when his friends came over. I just didn’t get what I did wrong. Until I reached that age where I reached a mature level is when I fully grasped the understanding of those questions. In a good sense, I feel my brothers helped me mature quicker than others my age. I also feel if D.B. was more around, he could help Holden and Phoebe grow up a lot quicker as well. I also feel that my relationship with Mike is very similar to Holden and Phoebe’s. About three years ago, my family and I had to go through very big and devastating news. We found out my mom had cancer in the mouth. I personally created a lake full of my tears when I found out. My mom and I were close but I would soon find out we would grow even closer. I feel God does things for a reason and having put my family through everything we were put through, not only made our family stronger but a whole lot closer as well. My family is like no other and I know we are lucky we still have my mom alive. I know Holden hurts from loosing Allie and I know I necessarily don’t know what it’s like to lose someone so close to you and so admirable to you but in a sense, I went through heartache too. I may still have my mom here with me but it was heartbreaking for my family and I to watch my mom suffer the way she did and to watch my mom go through surgery after surgery. She is currently a three year survivor and reminds my family and I every passing day how blessed we are to have her and each other here. Even though Holden doesn’t physically have Allie alive, he and his family mentally have him alive and fully alive in their hearts.
I have recently learned life itself is too short to fear and too short to not live out your best. Holden Caufield reminded me that life is truly what you make of it. You can be who you are and live the way you want to or live hidden under a mask being walked all over. In which case, no matter what path you take in life, there will always be an easier route. I know I would personally take the harder one because I like challenges. I once learned that there will always be someone better than you but also someone who is worse than you. This lesson made me want to be that better person. The path Holden took me down is not a path I honestly want to take myself. I have my own ambitions, dreams, morals, beliefs and way of life that I want to follow and nobody is going to stand in my way. I am not changing for anyone and it took a powerful book to make me reach this conclusion.