Would You Prefer a Different Life? Essay

As he reflects on this time in his life, now being converted to a Catholic, he understands that at that time he should have lifted his heart to the Lord

After catching the reader’s attention with a touching personal event he continues his story by comparing how he used to live before that Thanksgiving Day. He said “My

My phone vibrated on the table one day. It was from my sister’s then husband calling me, as nervous as I was I picked up the phone with sweaty hands. He broke the news to me in a panicked voice that my drug addicted sister was in jail because she became too aggressive and tore up many of their belongings. My sister's husband informed me that Jobe was not safe and needed to get out of there fast. I was frantically getting ready for work when I sat down on the couch to think about what had just happened. I took many deep breaths and finally said, ¨Collect his belongings and take him to Robert’s, I'll pick him up when I get the chance¨. Thinking to myself, ¨What had just happened?¨ I was going to have to take my 11 year old nephew. I already had a little seven year old girl who was a bundle of energy. Thinking to myself, How could I be a single mother of two?

A woman name Angela Hundley and her family were away on a family vacation in the Dominican Republic. While there Angela ate fish that caused her to become very ill. Two weeks after they returned home from their vacation she was diagnosed with ciguatera poisoning. She could not open her eyes or lift her head. The doctor informed the family that the poisoning was untreatable, and an incurable. Angela felt like she was in a comma, she couldn’t move but she could hear everything. She could hear her children playing but she couldn’t play with them. She remembers her husband taking her to her church for prayer and at the alter she recalls her pastor asking her “Angela have you thanked God through any of this, even if you don’t see another day,

This text is relevant to everyday life as each person has plenty to be thankful of and to value their faith of life for. Without gratitude and faith, life might as well be as pointless as the things we want to be ungrateful

Profound in the love shared between the father and son, their sense of unity kept them pushing through the pain for “each the other’s world entire” (6). In a society painted by shades of grey, one cannot help but at times feel the desire to fade into the world full of suffering. In the father’s perspective “there were few nights lying in the dark that he did not envy the dead ” (230). However, the man is fortunate because he has a spark in his life that motivates him to keep going- the boy. Many others before the man took their own life in an attempt to rescue themselves from the doomed life ahead. However for the father, “the boy was all that stood between him and death” (29). The father possess such love for the boy that no matter what the situation is he will never take the easy route out. He will never put his own needs over the boy’s. He will never leave him to try to fend for his own. Furthermore, if the boy were to ever depart life before him he “would want to die too” (11), thus proving that the boy is the father’s incentive to carry on. With the love for his son in mind, the father is enabled to carry on with his life. During a difficult situation, love encourages one to see it to the

“I think it is very beautiful for the poor to accept their lot, to share it with the passion of Christ. I think the world is being much helped by the suffering of the poor people.”

“Even during the hardest days, I trusted Him to guide me with strength so I could be the light of hope for my family, friends and community” (Yuzefpolsky, Leticia).

Morning arrived yet this time with a cheerful face of my mother and my healing brother’s smile. For the first time, this felt like home exactly, the way we lived 2 years back with warmth and happiness echoing in our house. I almost forgot the comfort of sitting on a couch or laying on a bed beside my mother. The aroma of her devouring food filled the house and the riddles of my ever loved brother never stopped, now, I had no need to keep track of

Could've still been whoring myself out to pay bills, if it wasn't for the lottery," he sneered. This bastard had the nerve to spew shit and garbage out of that mouth. There was nothing—absolutely nothing—worse than living a life without money, and he refused to consider another possibility. Mother degraded herself, sold her body, and skipped meals just to make sure he could have a place to live and not starve to death. From the kindness in his heart and love for her, Calvin pursued the same line of work, only so he could buy her gifts that made her smile—those moments were salvation for his struggling family life. If the money never entered his life, showering his mother with gifts would've remained a daydream, and the countless people he aided would've been denied homes, food, education, and escape from their abusers. Wealthy onlookers, captivated by the allure of mansions and private jets, neglected the pleas of those born into misfortune, and their shallow hearts allowed them to even exploit them for further

She wonders why God allowed her to live this way for so long. She struggles with feelings of rejection and un-love because she wishes that God would have come through for her sooner, or protected her from her husband who was so cruel. Yet she knows that God is God, and she feels guilty for being angry with Him or questioning Him. Yet she longs to feel that God truly loves her. Her goal is to begin to resolve the inner belief that these circumstances are somehow a demonstration of God’s lack of love for her, and instead to focus on the positives. She wants to increase of feelings of love and care from God.

One of the men they spoke to said that “if God didn’t have a purpose for [him], [he] would’ve been dead a long time ago”. However, the man also acknowledged that although his life was rough, there were many others who were in more challenging situations than him, as goes on to say “I see people in a wheelchair and they’re sick. There’s a lot of people more worse off

What brings you true joy? Is it family and friends, a religion, or some material item? In the short story, “The Life You Save May Be Your Own,” Flannery O’Connor gives examples of what can bring Tom Shiftlet joy and what he chooses instead. A tramp, Shiftlet, wanders to the Crater house in search of a job. Mrs. Crater knows her farm needs a good fixing, so she allows Shiftlet to sleep in the car and will feed him if he fixes things at the house. Mrs. Crater tries to pawn her daughter, Lucynell, off on Shiftlet. Mrs Crater offers the car Mr. Shiftlet fixed, a place to live, and $17.50 just to marry Lucynell. Shiftlet finally agrees and accepts the bribe.  On their honeymoon, Shiftlet leaves Lucynell at a diner and moves forward with his new car. A major theme that O’Connor repeated throughout her short story was how many things can block your vision of what truly matters in life. O’Connor reflects in all of her writings that God, and his gifts, are the things that can bring everlasting joy. She knows that there are always roadblocks in the way, though. Throughout the short story, “The Life You Save May Be Your Own,” Flannery O’Connor uses literary elements of symbolism, characterization, and naturalism to develop her theme of finding what truly matters in life.

Throughout The Seven Storey Mountain, the operation of Grace, which is the unmerited and freely given love of God, is shown to greatly influence Thomas Merton and bring peace to his ever complicated life. Merton’s life was an example of how it is necessary for someone to embrace and accept religion in order for them to truly be happy. The operations of Actual and Sanctifying Grace in Merton’s life proved to be the solution to the predicaments that he had been having such as his depression and confusion in religious identity. Merton’s life also raises the question of whether or not it is necessary for someone to have God’s Grace in order for them to be happy. The closer Merton was to God, the

In my life, I have been exposed to a challenge called change. Change can occur in many different ways and is dealt with in many different ways. I have come to the awareness that change can be the deepest of all things. I always thought that change occurred when you moved to a state or when you lost someone real close to you. Those are a challenge to change, yes, but change doesn’t have to occur over a climactic incident. It can just appear overnight when your brain winds up when it’s time to do something different. Even with friends that you used to have and know that move on. For example, most of my friends from elementary school, I don’t even talk to them anymore.