Folks is just folks.
“Before I can live with other folks I’ve got to live with myself.”
—Harper Lee, as spoken by the character Atticus Finch in “To Kill a Mockingbird”
Besides supplying me with my future children’s names, “To Kill a Mockingbird” is one of my favorite books of all time. I’m talking Top Three here. I might even go so far as to say it is one of the best books of all time. Arguments ladies? I didn’t think so…
The fact that the themes Harper Lee wrote about in 1960 are so personally and socially resonant in today’s world continues to amaze me. Racial hatred, political and social illiteracy, and the overwhelming power of love and family are what I connected to most deeply when I re-read “Mockingbird” last year. It is a story about a small town, but the issues facing Maycomb, Alabama have a far grander scope. It is a story for everyone, a lesson in compassion, understanding, and unity. We each have a tribe, a place we call home, but I think that we often forget its place within the world. Even the tiniest town is part of a grander social structure, and even within the grandest cities there are tiny pockets of community. Lee teaches us that though Maycomb may not even exist on a map, the seeds of human dignity and equality must have the right to grow.
It is truly amazing to me that these themes are still so important, but even more so that they are still issues in today’s world. Yes, we may have made leaps and bounds by electing a half black man as our president, but how relevent is this when we ignore discrimination against immigrant workers, same-sex couples, and the economically impoverished? And don’t even get me started on the global issues happening in Israel, the Niger Delta, Northern Ireland….etc. As Scout so pointedly declares “There’s just one kind of folks. Folks”.
Maybe if we all re-read “To Kill a Mockingbird” and saw the world through the eyes of Boo Radley we might remember that acceptance is the result of social study, personal reflection, and practicing what you preach.
And yes, I did get an A++ on this American Lit. paper.
