How can you live without something that once defined you? This was a difficult question for a small town Iowan named Brendan Leonard. Brendon became an alcoholic at a young age due to his choice to underage drink. Drinking quickly became a part of who Brendon was. Due to his heavy drinking, many problems started to arise for Brendan. After getting a DUI arrest, Brendan had to serve a short time in prison. He had a long time in recovery. During his time at jail and recovery, Brendan realized the many freedoms that were taken from him when he drank. Brendan decided to move out to Montana to go to college and pursue a future career in journalism. This was very difficult for Brendan since he had to leave his family and his old friends behind. Brendon spent the first semester of college avoiding people, but after he came home and was given a climbing rope from his brother, his life was changed forever. Brendon started mountain climbing and found out that he had a growing passion for the thrill of climbing mountains. Brendon decided he wanted to quit smoking because it hurts his lungs at the high elevations while he was climbing. Brendon even made some climbing buddies and started to cimb more and more. Brendan got married. He didn’t have a good relationship and ended up getting a divorce. After the divorce, Brendan decided to continue climbing and started climbing even more, since it kept his mind off of his past life and made him feel a strong sense of redemption. At the end of the book, Brendon realized that drugs, which once defined him, were no longer a part of his life. The new thing that defined him was climbing. After reading the book Sixty Meters to Anywhere, I was very surprised that this story had occurred very close to where I currently live. This story really woke me up to the harsh reality that events in this story could happen to me, or to anyone I know. While reading the book, I even recognised places Brendon worked or visited during his time in Iowa. After finishing the book, my perspective changed on alcoholics and drunk driving. I always thought that people who were alcoholics and drunk drivers were only selfish bad people, but really I just needed to separate the bad from the good. Brendan wasn’t a bad person, he had just made some bad mistakes. Brendon was such a good person, that he wanted to warn others of the mistakes he made. After reading the negative impacts alcoholism and chain smoking had on Brendon, I feel that my knowledge of why not to abuse these substances are even stronger. If Brendon had just decided not to try these harmful substances at such a young age, then he would have had a better high school and college experience. One thing I noticed while reading this book was how painfully honest Brendon was while writing this book. He not only told us his whole life story, but all the horrible mistakes and sorrow he had during his addiction and time of withdrawal. After finishing the novel, I learned that I am way too quick to judge people. When I read the first couple chapters of the novel, I immediately thought Brendon was a very bad person for his actions such as his DUI arrests, destruction of property, and how he acted at parties. Now I realize that Brendon is a good person, who went down a really bad path. This book completely changed my thinking on what I believe defines me and others. I know that there are many things that define people, both good and bad. After reading this book, I now know that people need to replace the bad things with something they are passionate about. The next time I want to watch youtube for a couple hours, I should instead go fishing or go play soccer with my friends. When I meet or hear about people who are drug users or alcoholics, I feel that I will now be more compassionate towards them, as I now know that they are good people who just went down the wrong path. I am now confident that I will not judge people based on bad decisions they make in their life, because everyone makes mistakes and has to learn from them, myself included. -Riley B.
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AuthorSTenth grade students at Decorah High School share how they're reading outside of their own experiences and how it has changed them. Categories
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November 2022
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