Motivated To Independence
The sun was coming through the blinds warming the room; the toys were on the floor making the room look messy. There’s an ugly, plaid, reclining couch against the wall where my mom would read to my brother and me. It was a Sunday at around noon, where the sun is at its peak, and it was slightly windy outside. It was almost summertime, and I was finished with the second grade. Sometimes my tri-colored cat came in the room, and I would play with her instead of listening to my mom. I had heard these books so many times. It was boring; my brother and I were half interested, because we could be doing anything else.
My mom would read us a collection of good behavior books, because my brother and I fought a lot. There were about thirty little books with a lot of pictures, and they had about twelve pages with words on them. The last page was always the same; it was about a paragraph long, and the only sentence I remember now is: “Treat others the way you want to be treated”. I would recite the last page to myself as she was finishing up each book. Sometimes my mom would add, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all”.
Years later, I read the same books to myself. I carried the books around with me until I finished them. I wanted to feel accomplished at finishing them myself. I read them multiple times; I read them everywhere, in the car, bathroom, and in bed. When I read them in bed; I had two piles one was for the books I read, and the others were for the ones I did not get to yet. After every book I read; I was proud of myself, and wanted to finish the entire collection. I felt more independent when I got to read them to myself. I do not know why I kept rereading them, and I would always skip the last page, because it was always the same in each book.
I took the lessons more seriously when I read them to myself. I did not realize that the lesson would be an important one that I would take everywhere. I hold that one lesson with me, because it applies in everyday life. I do treat others the way I would want to be treated, especially at one of my many jobs, where customers and patrons would sometimes be very mean. I worked as a cashier at Rite Aid, as a hostess at Artisan’s, as sales at Precision Time, and as a toll collector on the NJ Turnpike, and no matter how rude the customers were I always treated them the way I would want to be treated. I took these lessons to heart, because I read the books to myself instead of having my mom read to me.
As I was working at all these different jobs; I was reading books that I did and did not like. At home, I read books that I wanted to read, like fantasy and fiction. I would feel accomplished after I finished a book, however, in school I was forced to read books that I did not like. Books were a motivation to get an achievement. Even if I did not like it, it was still an accomplishment to get it done.
The good behavior books that I reread was something that I enjoyed when I read them to myself. They were a motivation to me even at such a young age. I wanted independence early that is why I wanted to read those books by myself. Those books were my accomplishment, my motivation, my passion when I was little. I like to feel accomplished in almost anything; these books were an early achievement for me.
