Freedom

As a Penn State student I am deeply saddened by the events of this past week.  The whole campus is swallowed in an air of defeat and shame and the strong media presence has made it impossible to regain any sense of normalcy.  That being said, Penn State will rise above this and the students are doing all that they can to make things right.  We will keep calm and fight on.  We are still and always Penn State.

There are a lot of places to turn for comfort during times like these and one place I always go is to to books.  In books you can experience other worlds and just escape.  Or, as is the case in Elizabeth Yates Amos Fortune Free Man, you can be reminded that you are not the only one who has struggles and it is possible to rise above.

This book tells the story of Amos Fortune, born At-mun, who was born a tribal king in Africa only to be captured and made a slave in America.  Amos had the good fortune, if being bought can be called good fortune, to be bought by a kind Quaker family.  This family treated him kindly and taught him a trade and also how to read.  Once the father of that family died Amos worked and lived with a tanner and eventually earned his freedom.

"It does a man no good to be free until he learns how to live."  These wise words from Amos are the perfect way to describe his life.  Amos knew how to live, he spent his whole life helping others and his life brought freedom to 4 other people, a huge accomplishment for a man facing bitter racism even as a freeman.  This story is a beautiful example of hope perseverance and triumph.  In times like these we need to be reminded of people like Amos.  People who use their wealth and power to help others and not to deceive and destroy.

Keeping hope in spite of the trial...that's kids stuff.