Harper Lee Honored

"To Kill A Mockingbird" author Harper Lee was honored with the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest award a U.S. civilian can receive from the American government. You can read about it here.

"To Kill A Mockingbird" was not on the required reading list back when I was in high school, but it was on a short list of "Suggested Readings". The title caught my eye, so I borrowed a copy from the school library and was brought into the world of the American Deep South just after the Great Depression, into a world of racial prejudice and great tragedy. But there was heroism, courage, and growing up too, in the book. I have a copy of my own now, have had it since my college years, and I still like leafing through it every so often. Harper Lee hasn't published any other book since then--just a handful of essays--but I think the example of her book shows how a story can have great impact on the world. Hers is not the only tale that resonates through the years, or that can influence things for the good. There are many, and we are lucky to have them, "To Kill A Mockingbird" certainly not the least of them.