What Katy Did - Susan Coolidge

On my twelfth birthday, my mother gave me a present. It was a book. I had never thought that this children’s book would inspire me for the rest of my life.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------

What happens when the life that you have been taking for granted all these days suddenly comes to a halt ? What happens when one event transforms your life to such an extent that you cannot recognize your own life ? What happens when everything you thought was dear to you is taken far away from you ?

Darkness. Despair. Hopelessness. Denial.

That are the obvious reactions to such hairpin bends in life.

Yet there is another way to look at such situations. Imagine that you have been distanced from your ‘normal’ life that you have been used to in life just to be enrolled in God’s school.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------

But what is the school?'' asked Katy.

''And there's the lesson of Hopefulness.Every morning, the first thing when I woke up, I would say to myself: 'I am going to get well, so Papa thinks. Perhaps it may be to-morrow. So, in case this should be the last day of my sickness, let me spend it beautifully, and make my sick-room so pleasant that everybody will like to remember it.'

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------

‘What Katy did’is a story of a twelve year old Katy who was tomboyish and mischievous, spending days in daring adventures with her siblings. Then, one day, Katy falls down from a swing and injures her back so grievously that she is not able to get up from the bed for years. Far away from school, from fun, from adventures, from friends.....life is almost unbearable for little Katy. Many days pass in a despair-filled haze. Till her Cousin Helen comes for a visit. And Katy learns to look at life with a new approach altogether. Nothing changes except Katy’s attitude. Katy realizes that she is able to do so many wonderful things that she was not able to think of when she was having a normal, active life.

The book ends on a happy note. Finally, Katy, a sixteen year old is able to walk again. And she looks back at the years she spent alone, in her room as the most enriching, positive years of her life.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------

My thoughts :

Every time I faced a difficult situation in my life, I pulled out ‘What Katy did’ from my book rack. This book never failed to give me hope in my worst phases - without the usual preaching and sermonizing.

Every time I read this book, I realize that what the mind perceives as ‘tough’ or ‘terrible’ experiences are nothing but a chance to enroll in that wonderful school of life where you learn lessons of patience, hopefulness and cheerfulness – and finally graduate as far more enriched human beings than before.

That is how we grow. That is how we are pruned. To finally shine.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------

• 
  • Flag This Review
  • Irrelevant
  • Fake
  • Junk
• Thank You! We appreciate your effort.