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365 Reasons to Smile – Day 80
I made a lot of poor decisions when I was young.
Take, for example, my choice for dramatic readings for speech competitions.
I chose to read passages from a book I absolutely loved.
That may seem perfectly understandable – but only if you think common sense was involved.
It wasn’t.
The book was The Outsiders, which means all the characters were adolescent males. Since I was an adolescent female, some people were confused.
No matter how hard I worked at capturing the essence of the passages, the judges weren’t impressed with my efforts. The feedback I received was “wrong choice of work.”
Not only that, but I when I chose my competition piece, I didn’t know The Outsiders was being made into a major motion picture. It opened in theaters during speech season.
That didn’t impress the judges either.
In hindsight, I don’t really care if the judges were impressed. I loved the book, and The Outsiders will always hold a place in my heart. Not only was the story inspirational, so was the author.
Susan Eloise Hinton started writing the novel when she was 16. It was published by the time she was 18.
And then it was banned from some schools and libraries because of violence, underage smoking and drinking, strong language and family dysfunction.
Ironically, as a high school student, I witnessed all of those on a regular basis. I just never wrote about them.
Fortunately, what I didn’t witness was the book being removed from my local library.
And the fact that it was available for me to read always makes me smile.
Day 80: The Outsiders Day 79: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Day 78: The First Amendment
Day 77: People Who Touch Our Lives Day 76: The Rewards of Parenting Day 75: Improvements Day 74: Family Traditions Day 73: Learning From Our Mistakes Day 72: Live Music Day 71: Sleeping In Day 70: Grover Day 69: A Good Hair Day Day 68: A Sense of Community Day 67: Kindness Day 66: Living in a Place You Love Day 65: Gifts from the Heart Day 64: The Arrival of Fall Day 63: To Kill a Mockingbird Day 62: Green Lights Day 61: My Canine Friends Day 60: Differences Day 59: A New Box of Crayons Day 58: Bookworms Day 57: Being Oblivious Day 56: Three-day Weekends Day 55: A Cat Purring Day 54: Being a Unique Individual Day 53: Children’s Artwork Day 52: Lefties Day 51: The Neighborhood Deer Day 50: Campfires Day 49: Childhood Crushes Day 48: The Words “Miss You” Day 47: Birthday Stories Day 46: Nature’s Hold on Us Day 45: Play-Doh Day 44: First Day of School Pictures Day 43: Calvin and Hobbes Day 42: Appreciative Readers Day 41: Marilyn Monroe’s Best Quote Day 40: Being Silly Day 39: Being Happy Exactly Where You Are Day 38: Proud Grandparents Day 37: Chocolate Chip Cookies Day 36: Challenging Experiences that Make Great Stories Day 35: You Can’t Always Get What You Want Day 34: Accepting the Fog Day 33: I See the Moon Day 32: The Stonehenge Scene from This is Spinal Tap Day 31: Perspective Day 30: Unlikely Friendships Day 29: Good Samaritans Day 28: Am I a Man or Am I a Muppet? Day 27: Shadows Day 26: Bike Riding on Country Roads Day 25: When Harry Met Sally Day 24: Hibiscus Day 23: The Ice Cream Truck Day 22: The Wonderful World of Disney Day 21: Puppy love Day 20 Personal Theme Songs Day 19: Summer Clouds Day 18: Bartholomew Cubbin’s Victory Day 17: A Royal Birth Day 16: Creative Kids Day 15: The Scent of Honeysuckle Day 14: Clip of Kevin Kline Exploring His Masculinity Day 13: Random Text Messages from My Daughter Day 12: Round Bales of Hay Day 11: Water Fountains for Dogs Day 10: The Rainier Beer Motorcycle Commercial Day 9: Four-Leaf Clovers Day 8: Great Teachers We Still Remember Day 7: Finding the missing sock Day 6: Children’s books that teach life-long lessons Day 5: The Perfect Photo at the Perfect Moment Day 4: Jumping in Puddles Day 3: The Ride Downhill after the Struggle Uphill Day 2: Old Photographs Day 1: The Martians on Sesame Street