An Early Reading Memory

Last year when I was in 10th grade Mr.O'Brien was my english teacher. He insisted that part of our year was to read a book of our own choice outside of school. My first choice was a novel called Sold by Patricia McCormick. To be honest I didn't really care what it was about or whether I was interested it in, I just wanted a good grade. My plan was to even just see if I could read it on sparknotes.com to just skim what the novel was about. Then, I actually had some spare time and began to actually read it. This novel made me feel beyond sympathetic and distressed which scared me considering I don't personally know the character, yet I still had extreme emotions you would normally feel for a best friend or a family member. I clearly remember crying at the end of this novel because I put myself in the protagonists "shoes" and imagined myself in her situation. She was sold into sexual trafficking and forced to live in a brothel house in another country, she originally thought she was going to a different country to be a maid and help make some money for her family who was living in poverty. After reading this book I realized how many simple things teenagers take for granted, even needs like food over wants like television. I used to stress over things like what to wear or how doing homework was more of a chore than a learning experience. Lakishmi would have given up anything to have an education or just a decent meal everyday of the week, or just to live in an apartment instead of a hut made of pure mud and grass. Reading this book made me appreicate what I have which might sound stupid but its extermely true.