What were you thinking about when you were 15?
I was definitely not thinking about the problems in our society, the major issues affecting everybody in our world. Unlike Anne M. Frank, barely 15, who was writing in her diary, sometime at the beginning of the 20th century, about the sad reality of women being inferior to men. And it was not enough for her that it was unfair. She needed to know the reasons behind it and what she could do to change that.
‘When I was 15 I was probably thinking most about my then boyfriend’ – I told Kristina, after I shared Anne M. Frank’s thoughts.
‘You were lucky to have a boyfriend’.
‘Why? Who needs boyfriends?’ – and we both burst out laughing.
Beware, today I talk about books, not boyfriends.
‘My own words’ is lying on my coffee table.
This would never have been the book of my choice. But, luckily, sometimes others make choices for us.
I have always been into books, from the very young age. My dad used to read a lot, my mom still does. So whatever books were brought home from the library, they would land in my hands as well. Dad used to read lots of detective stories, including Agatha Christie, and adventure books.
However, my 3 favorite books from childhood were without a doubt the ones below:
I had read each one of them a million gazillion of times, no kidding.
Fast forward 30 or so years, I guess it‘s not surprising, that when asked to make a short presentation about myself at my new place of work less than a year ago, I talked about books, especially the last one. And how the phrase ‚Every day is like a lifetime‘ stuck with me.
‘My own words’ is a very different kind of book. I did skip some parts and I’m struggling to get past page 143, but the book hooked me with the 2 savvy advises given at the very beginning:
‘In every good marriage it helps sometimes to be a little deaf’ – doesn’t it just so!
and
‘If you really want something, no matter how hard it seems to achieve, you will stop worrying and you will get it’.
And although the latter one makes me want to contradict straight away and say that ‘really, not everything is that easy, not always we can just go for it’, deep down I know it’s true. If we really really want something, we find a way to get it done. We make it work. I’ve done it myself. And if I start with ‘but I don’t have time’ or ‘it’s so difficult’ it just means that I don’t want it enough.
The book goes on to tell the stories of women who fought for gender equality and did many other great things. Who, years before, paved the way to what we find an ordinary way of life today.
And what have I done? What have I achieved that would make a difference? But do I have to? Do I need to be yet another superwoman?
Let’s just say that thinking about it all is a very good start. Isn’t that the whole point? Whether we like the book or not, in my eyes, if it makes us think and question our life and our choices, it’s a damn good book.