When Life gives you Lemons make
Lemonade
Arnold is
able to stay afloat of his life by taking from his grandmothers’ legacy of
tolerance. “She wanted us to forgive Gerald, the dumb-ass Spokane Indian
alcoholic who ran her over and killed her.” (Alexie 157) Arnold a.k.a Junior
knows where he comes from is not where he wants to be. So he decides not to be
a product of his community but rather the new found one. You should never
let someone else’s fate determine yours.
In every step in life there is
something to be learned, whether it be big or small. There is always a lesson
to take away. Arnold could be a very pessimistic child some days. “It is an
ugly circle and there’s nothing you can do about it.”(Alexie 13 ) As a child if
you had a disability or something was different about you from the rest, you
were bound to get made fun of. Now whether you let that make or break you as a
person is up to you. In my opinion I do not think you should beat yourself up
about it. Although it is hard, in the end you still have to live with it, so
why not turn it into something positive. Embrace yourself. As Junior grew up he
started to understand. Although it took time and is in some way a never ending
challenge. I say this because Junior was smart/ unique even, but he would let
the way the people on the reservation saw him affect his view of himself. Making
fun of me before someone else did would maybe lighten the pain/reality. “Yep, I
belong to the Black-Eye-of- the- Month- club.”(Alexie 4) Could that be the only
thing I could think of that would make him do it. Once Junior was able to step
outside the box he was able to realize that I’m no different than any other
kid. Mr. P wanted the best. “You’re the
smartest kid in the school. And I do not want you to fall. I do not want you to
fade away. You deserve better.” (Alexie 40) Through that Junior was able to
gain some will power. Once he saw that someone else believed in him, it was
easier for him to believe in himself. Junior had grew up and grew out. The
reservation was his only set back and he knew if he was mature and trust in
himself the sky was the limit. However the part of factoring in hurdles wasn’t in
the game plan.
In life you are given many obstacles.
How you deal with them is your choice, FIGHT OR FLIGHT. Leaving the reservation was in a sense flight
and flight. Arnold was able to go and be all he could be but it was at the risk
of being disowned by his community. “ you cannot just betray your tribe and
then change your mind ten minutes later.”(Alexie 55) Not that he was typical
accepted in the first place. Junior quickly began to realize that after a flash
of the present, being on top is not all its cut out to be. Its sugar cookies
and icing, until you realize in conquering something you wanted destroyed
something you loved. “I was suddenly ashamed of my anger , my rage, and pain. I
jumped off my white teammates’ shoulders and dashed into the locker
room.”(Alexie 196) In that instants Junior failed to realize how his or other people’s
action had a high impact on others.
Arnold is a product of a long line of
alcohol abuse. Not just through bloodline, but also through culture. A typical
way of death in the Native American culture is derived from alcohol. “In fact
last week, she was walking back home from a mini powwow……when she was struck
and killed by a drunk driver.” (Alexie 157) The causality that came behind that
statement was shocking. When most encounter a death they are typically weaken.
Junior was inspired and forced all in one too abstain from drinking as his
grandmother did. “Drinking would shut down my seeing and my hearing and my
feelings.”(Alexie 157) Following the two other deaths. Many would find it hard
to believe that a ton of deaths are due to alcohol they would stop or cut back
on the drinking. Nope, that is not the case. It got worse during the holidays
and even more so during other funeral. “Each funeral was a funeral for all of
us. We lived and died together.”(Alexie 167) This was a never ending
cycle.
In happiness or pain we turned to alcohol.
“He took what little money we did have and ran away to get drunk.”(Alexie
150)That was encouragement in itself to not drink. It was something that became
a tradition. “He left Christmas Eve and came back on January 2. With an epic
hangover, he just lay on his bed for hours.” (Alexie 150) Is it better to forgive
or forget? When in doubt you can always make someone else’s day seem a little
brighter than what it should, or may seem to be. “Hey, kid,” he said. “I’m
sorry about Christmas.” “It’s okay, “I said.”(Alexie 150) In that someone
somewhere will or should be doing the same for you. What you give is what you
receive. The ability to bring joy into someone’s life is endless, but could be
very well taking the life of yours. Grandma Spirit would probably tell you it
is not always what you get out of something. “Now, in the kind of
eccentricity.” (Alexie 155) Eccentricity is the quality of being eccentric/
different.
Junior was an eccentric kid. Even
though he was the odd ball of the town, picked on because he was smart and
goofy looking. His best friend he was just the same. In the total opposite,
Rowdy was the town bully. “yeah,” I said. Whenever he came to school with a
black eye , Rowdy made sure to give black eyes to two kids picked at random.” (Alexie
41) .The friendship between the two were like ying and yang. “Rowdy is the toughest kid in the reservation.”
(Alexie 15) The best was brought out when together. They were each other’s
driving force. “That wasn’t how our
friendship went.” (Alexie 225) Arnold knew that chickening out was not an
option. These trees were a reflection of his past that every branch he climb up
it was a step forward to success as it was for him go to Reardon. The courage
he had, he only hoped that if the reservation had dreams like him. They too
would come to understand that there is better out there and they can achieve
it. “Indians don’t deserve shit.”(Alexie 56) No matter what your skin color is.
Life can be better for you if you just have the will to see everything from a
different perspective. The ability have that optimistic outlook on life made
him believe an achieve everything he had in his path.
All in all, never give up on a dream
you have, just because the steps that you need are difficult. In taking five
steps backwards you are only preparing yourself to ten steps forward. Fight to
the very end because the best is yet to come. Being humble is better than all.
Move on from where you started but never forget what made you.
