"The Promise"

While I usually review books that I have read, I am going to take a different path and write about a story I know well - my life.  This is but one chapter, and one experience that totally changed my life.

It was quite dark when I called for a Lyft.  The time was around 5:30 in the morning, and my flight back to Indiana was due to depart at 10:30.  I try to be at the airport two hours ahead of departure, and I knew the trip to LAX could possibly take an hour or more.  Nevertheless, the street was quiet, and Los Angeles still slept when I saw my driver approach.

I am always somewhat apprehensive when I travel alone in a Lyft or Uber, but my driver jumped out, grabbed my carry on, and opened the door for me.  As we headed to LAX, we started a casual conversation.  He was a recent immigrant from Armenia, and he was working two jobs to help make ends meet.  He had recently married a girl that was his friend, then he realized that what he felt for her was more than friendship.

He had been in this country for a year, and he had a lot of dreams and hopes for his future.  He asked me where I was from and he stated that he would love to see this part of the country at some point. I laughed and said that Indiana would welcome his visit.

By this time we had developed more of a rapport, and he told me that he had been a foreign exchange student in North Dakota.  He loved his experience in North Dakota, and but more importantly, he received a "taste" of democracy.  "Susan," he said, "I tasted democracy, and I can never look back.  I cannot return to my country because I am a target.  They would kill me."  I asked him who "they" was.  He told me that his country was not a democracy, and that the Armenian people were suppressed.

"Once I returned home from North Dakota, I became very outspoken.  The police were sent to silence me."  His father protected his life and made sure he was able to leave the country.  "But don't you worry about your father's safety?" I asked.  He said that his father was considered "old" and "unimportant."  "They think his voice counts for nothing.  It is the young they want to silence."  It is the young people like me who they kill to keep them quiet.  They don't want people to know about democracy."

Armenia is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia to the north, and Iran to the south. While Armenia is listed as a unitary multi-party democratic  nation state, he said there is much corruption, and the elections are fixed.  The people vote, but their votes are never counted.  The winners are who the government wants in control.

We talked more about his home country, Armenia, and his current job prospects.  We also talked about his fears of deportation - both for himself and his bride.  He knew that if he was sent back to his country, it would be a death sentence for both of them.

Los Angeles International Airport was in the distance, and the sun was coming up on the west coast.  Another day had begun, and my ride was soon to be over.  The driver and I were silent for a few minutes as we pulled up the the curb at the United terminal.  I knew we both had tears in our eyes.

As I prepared to leave my Lyft, my driver once again helped me with my luggage.  As I stopped to thank him, he gathered me into a hug and told me how much the time we had spent together had meant to him.

 What I had experienced was what Pastor Jill calls an "Encounter."  Both of our lives were changed by this chance meeting, and we both were once again reminded that we are brothers and sisters in this human race.

You see, before I left that Lyft, I made a promise to this young man.  I promised him that even though I was one in a sea of many, even though I was of a different culture, even though I had never experienced what he had lived through, I would do everything in my power to help him feel safe in this country. That was why we were both weeping.

I have thought of this Encounter many, many times since that day.  This young man will remain nameless for his protection.  All the while, thirty-two thousand feet in the air, I repeated this mantra.  I will never choose hate.  I will never support hate.  I will do what I can to support those who are oppressed.  I will chose love.  I will speak out.  I will not be silent.

Morrighan by Mary E. Pearson

If you read Kiss of Deception, you know that Lia comes from a country called Morrighan, and Morrighan was named after a very powerful woman who had the "gift" and created her own nation.  In this novella, we learn the history of Morrighan and how she became the great leader of her nation. 

Before nations were ever born, tribes wandered the area trying to survive.  Morrighan meets a boy from another fierce tribe, and their meeting changes their worlds forever.  This novella also gives you the necessary background to understand how the factions came to be.  

There is also a prophesy.  There is one who is coming who will save the nations and bring peace.  Read The Kiss of Deception,  then read Morrighan.   

The Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson (The Remnant Chronicles Book 1)

Lia does not want to marry a man that she doesn't know, and certainly doesn't love.  As preparations are being made for her wedding day, she and her servant run away.   She knows that running away from her wedding will anger her father and create havoc as this was not only a wedding, but an agreement between two nations.  Lia doesn't care for any of these things as she decides to make a new life for herself.

Once she is settled in her new home, two strangers come to town.  Little does she know, one is the prince she has snubbed, who is planning on killing her, and the other is a paid assassin who is also going to kill her.  Not only are these two men after her, but her angry father has sent bounty hunters after her to take her life.  

Lia is also supposed to have the a gift.  She knows she doesn't have the gift, so there is no reason to marry a man she doesn't love and be miserable all of her life.  However, as time passes, and the bounty hunters close in, she realizes that she might have more of the gift than she realizes.  

Lia also finds herself falling in love.  But who is she falling in love with?  Her spurned prince?  Or the Assassin?  Will love win in the end?

This book is an Eliot Rosewater 2016-2017 choice.  

The Girl Who Ignored Ghosts by KC Tansley

Kat Preston doesn't believe in ghosts.  She absolutely does NOT believe in ghosts!  She keeps repeating this over and over to protect herself from what she knows are the "Unbelievables."  When Kat was eight, an "unbelievable" tried to inhabit her body, and she never wants another experience like that again!

Kat is offered the scholarship of a lifetime with Dr. Astor and his team.  What Kat doesn't realize when she accepts the scholarship is that the summer research class she is taking with Dr. Astor involves researching family curses and hauntings.  She is also expected to spend at least two weeks at the Castle Creighton off the coast of Connecticut.  The castle is owned by the Radcliffe family, and a terrible tragedy occurred on the island in the 1800's.  Ever since that tragedy, the first born son of the Radcliffe family meets a tragic death at the age of twenty-three.

It is up to Kat and her team to break the curse and save the life of the current owner, Joshua Radcliffe.  They must learn the terrible secrets of the castle before Joshua turns twenty-three - which is in three weeks.

This was a free download from Amazon, and I read it on a whim.  I liked it....a lot.  This is a Young Adult novel with great character development, and plot.  I had the culprit figured out, but I didn't have a clue how the plot would be resolved.

This is Book 1 in a series that I will continue to read.  I hope you take a chance on it as well.

Night by Elie Wiesel

In order to honor a man whose words have changed my life and outlook, I am going to write about Elie Wiesel's Nobel Prize winning book, Night.

The freshman curriculum at MHS needed another book added for all levels of freshman English.  It wasn't much of a choice, really.  Night had been chosen a couple of years before to be added to the Eliot Rosewater reading list, and I had read this powerful book then.  We wanted something that would bring about awareness, and we also wanted a voice in which the students could relate.  Night was the best choice by far. 

Elie Wiesel is only fifteen when he and his family are sent to the concentration camps.  "Men to the left.  Women to the right."  Those eight words caused the family to be separated, and Elie never saw his mother or his sister again.  

Elie and his father are sent to Auschwitz, and Elie promises to take care of his father.  He questions God and the reasons for all of the inhumanities that he has to endure.  He questions humanity, and he wonders why the world is standing by not getting involved when men, women, and children are being burned.  

This book was one I taught to many, many students.  I shall never forget the day that one of the toughest girls I had ever had in class broke down in tears and asked me how people could be so awful to each other?  I had no answer to that question as I ponder the same thing every time I hear about a mass shooting, a car bomb, a crime against a man, woman, or child, or any act of terrorism. 

I often wonder how many incidents will it take before we stand up and say that we have had enough.  I often feel powerless, but I do have a voice on social media, and I intend to use this voice as I can to bring as much awareness as I can from my little space in the world.  

Elie didn't understand how he survived, and he really doesn't know how he did.  What he did know is that he was the voice for his tortured generation, and he felt that he must speak out for those who couldn't.  

"We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere. When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant. Wherever men and women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views, that place must - at that moment - become the center of the universe."  Elie Wiesel

Thank you, Elie, for making me wonder what I can do differently each day to make this world a little better.  

Summer Girls by Mary Alice Monroe

Marietta Muir knows she needs to get the "Summer Girls" back together.  The girls were in their early teens when they last spent their summers together on Sullivan Island, and now the sisters are located in different parts of the country.  Marietta has to get them back together because she is celebrating her 80th birthday, and her wish is to have the girls become as close as they once were.

Carson, the middle sister, lives in Los Angeles, but travels wherever her jobs take her.  She is a photographer, and is currently looking for a job.  Dora is in the midst of a horrible divorce, and Harper feels threatened by her mother.  All three girls share the same father, but all have different mothers.  Mamaw (Marietta) knows there are a lot of wounds that need healing.

This is the first book in the series, and it centers around Carson, the middle sister.  Carson is a water bug and avid surfer, and finds herself in the middle of a terrifying situation in which a dolphin comes to her rescue.  Carson also has several issues to deal with as she tries to come to terms with her past and present.

 Monroe takes the time in her book to explain about the plight of the bottlenose dolphin and what we must do to help protect this species.  The Carolina Lowcountry is also described in breathtaking detail.  I must admit that I am once again wanting to visit this area.

This book is a great summer beach read.  Even though each character has her own secrets, the reader is sympathetic and yearns to know more about the Muir family of South Carolina.