The day was June 11, 2017, and I was shaking all over. I had just finished playing my song at the annual summer piano recital and I was disappointed in myself. Twenty minutes later, I was sick and crying in the bathroom, ready to go home. About three months later, I walked into my first piano lesson and was shocked to hear my piano teacher, Mrs. Graham, praising me for my ‘beautiful and soulful’ piano solo. Mrs. Graham listened as I voiced my concerns and waited until I finished before saying this: “Self-disappointment is a dangerous emotion that can take advantage of you at any time. There is only One that you must impress- Jesus. And he accepts the way you used his gift wholeheartedly. He takes your mistakes and makes them into something
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An example of one of these repeating lessons is that some people will always give up at the first sign of trouble and it is undesirable to be one of those people. In one instance, Cory is trapped in a flooded house with a little boy named Gabriel and the infamous sea monster, Old Moses. Old Moses tries to attack Cory and Gabriel, but in remembering a moment from a film that he has seen, Cory shoves a broomstick down the monster’s throat. The monster retreats, leaving an astonished Cory and a flabbergasted Gabriel. “Old Moses… could holler a good game, but at the first sting he took off”, Cory reflects, having seen and defeated the monster himself (109). Two other examples of this are seen when Grandaddy Jaybird runs from the wasps and when the Blaylocks are overwhelmed in the gunfight at the gas station. Cory applies this lesson when choosing whether or not to run from the Branlins. He could either walk away, “leaving my [his] friends” or he “could join them” (167); he decided to stay and consequently he “walked toward a beating” (168). Cory chooses to join his friends to fend off the Branlin brothers and courageously does not leave when trouble arrives. Cory learns from Old Moses, Grandaddy Jaybird, and the Blaylocks that while some people bail out when the going gets tough, it is not an admirable trait to
An example of one of these repeating lessons is that some people will always give up at the first sign of trouble and it is undesirable to be one of those people. In one instance, Cory is trapped in a flooded house with a little boy named Gabriel and the infamous sea monster, Old Moses. Old Moses tries to attack Cory and Gabriel, but in remembering a moment from a film that he has seen, Cory shoves a broomstick down the monster’s throat. The monster retreats, leaving an astonished Cory and a flabbergasted Gabriel. “Old Moses… could holler a good game, but at the first sting he took off”, Cory reflects, having seen and defeated the monster himself (109). Two other examples of this are seen when Grandaddy Jaybird runs from the wasps and when the Blaylocks are overwhelmed in the gunfight at the gas station. Cory applies this lesson when choosing whether or not to run from the Branlins. He could either walk away, “leaving my [his] friends” or he “could join them” (167); he decided to stay and consequently he “walked toward a beating” (168). Cory chooses to join his friends to fend off the Branlin brothers and courageously does not leave when trouble arrives. Cory learns from Old Moses, Grandaddy Jaybird, and the Blaylocks that while some people bail out when the going gets tough, it is not an admirable trait to