In early March 2011, my canon included the Holy Bible and the Johns Hopkins Family Health Book. I have always enjoyed reading but never really delve into reading the works of famous writers. I would read them in school to complete my homework but the Holy Bible and the Family Health Book I read "just because." My life was somewhat a horror story before I accepted Christ as my savior. I drank, partied, and did whatever I was bold enough to do regardless of the consequences. My actions cost me three cars, my best friend, and my ability to have children. In June 2007, I asked Jesus into my life. From that day until this one, I have carried my bible with me everywhere I go and try to read it every spare second I can. It is a rule book for me. It helps me govern my behavior and my thoughts. It tells me what I should and shouldn't do as a child of the Most High God.
The Health Book came in handy because of my past lifestyle. My body is still suffering the consequences from the years of abuse it has sustained. After a visit with the doctor, which is quite often, I come home, open my health book, and educate myself on my diagnosis and plan of treatment. I do the same thing with my sons and my fiancé. Now, just two months later, my canon has expanded. I still read my bible and my health book regularly but I’ve also added a few pieces of literature from this course to it. I admit I have not actually read all of the assigned readings but the few that I have read have left a mark on me. Letter from a Birmingham Jail moved me to tears. Dr King's passion, love, and desire for equality for all mankind are inspiring. His non violent philosophy, in the very face of calamity and corruption, was breath taking. I've read it to my sons. I can honestly say that because of the African Americans truly trying to make an amazing difference in the world, I want to be so much better than what I was....than what I am, even now.
Paul's 1 Corinthians 13, an excerpt from the Holy Bible, describes the life of love I’m trying so hard to live. My patience is much better these days than days past. I believe this is a piece of literature that everyone should read and include in their canons and lives. A Raisin in the Sun serves as a reminder of how far African Americans have come in the United States. Harlem reminds me to not procrastinate. "Don't put off 'til tomorrow that which can be done today" is what comes to mind when I read it. Shakespeare's Sonnet 130 is a reminder that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Everyone will not find beauty in that which I call beautiful. Edwin Arlington Robinson's Richard Cory tells me that everything is not what it seems and teaches me to not be envious. The person that seems to have it all together may be the very one on the dangerously close to a breakdown. My life has changed and I see a moral lesson in almost everything. My canon is merely a reflection of the person I’m trying to be.