Life Can Turn Many Different Ways

Latin quotes are running through my mind. Words that I can neither pronounce nor translate. Still, I have a good feel for St. Oswald's church of school for boys. In "Different Class" by Joanne Harris, it is impossible to keep one's emotions locked away or hidden. First, I have to congratulate the author for taking on one issue which branched into many other subjects.

It's a coming of age story. It's the one our children might have never shared with us. It's about their schools whether public or private. It's about their friends and their professors or teachers. The novel brings to the forefront the fact that after we let our child walk into a kindergarten class or even a nursery we lose a part of them. A part of their life no longer belongs to us. Perhaps, it's the beginning of learning about secrets. It's about obedience and what is not disobedience. So many issues that cause the heart to beat faster and the eyes to cry.

There is the psyche of the adult. If only there were times and places to share our stories without condemnation or laughter. Of course, I think of the boys first. Then, I think of Harry Clarke. I see him as a needy person, what made him so starved for affection that he would rent the sacred curtains of his classroom for, in his eyes, a feel good moment?

There is also responsibility. Am we responsible for each other? I hope your friendship would see me making a tragic mistake and take the courage to try and stop me before jail, etc. There is all this stuff in life. No one can prepare you to meet it. They don't know it's coming to your door. You don't know it's coming. Then, there is death. Your death is my death because all of your memories, letters, photographs, clothes need picking up. Even your ashes or body can't pass over without notice, without care. Yes, whether you're murdered or commit suicide the bell tolls for me. If suicide, why couldn't I stop you?

"Different Class" by Joanne Harris left me needing not Hawaii but a quietness with a Higher Power there to greet me. I am slightly worried about what will greet me before I leave this earth. However, according to Joanne Harris there are those who survive. That's all we have is the hope that the golden ring of survival will come within our reach. If it does, grab it. Also, nothing is impossible for us to experience or to act out upon one another. Because we carry ghosts within us. People don't die. Their spirits are buried within us. If they ever touched our lives, they leave something there. It crawls around inside us until we wrestle it and acknowledge it.

"Different Class" gives a look at all sides of different issues. Issues we usually whisper about and sweep under the rung. This book opens us up to discussion and a chance to know ourselves better. I feel happy to have read it. Might have mixed up Poodle with Ben, Benedicta, Charlie Nutter, Allen-Jones or Johnny Harrington with Mousey, but what happened to any of these people never became foggy. Life landed on their doorstep with a bang. For them, it was time to act.