In this week’s reading Mary Anne and Will choose the books Suite Francaise, The Bite of the Mango, and The Elegance of the Hedgehog for their book club. The book Suite Francaise by Nemirovsky “is a book about refugees and life under occupation, by a refugee” (253). The book The Bite of the Mango by Mariatu Kamara is about how she was captured by the rebels and was witness of many terrible horrors. She wanted to escape from the rebels without being hurt but they chopped of her arms in order to let her go so she would not be able to vote (261-262). Mariatu Kamara received an award at the Women’s Refugee Commission lunch, which Mary Anne attend and was tributed. “Days after the lunch, mom got steady sicker, it’s as though she’d tapped into hidden reserve of energy to get herself through it, and now there was little left” (264). The last book The Elegance of the Hedgehog “is, in many ways, a book about books (and films): what they teach us, and how they can open worlds. But it’s really, like most great books, about people-and the connections they make, how they save one another and themselves” (273). On June 5, Mary Anne had a doctor's appointment and they discovered that the tumors were growing but that there was a drug that may help slow the growth of the tumors, and there was no more chemotherapies she had to go through (274).
The portion of the text that really made me think was when Schwalbe told Mary Anne that he felt guilty that he was not doing more for the world (254). Mary Anne responded “ Of course you could do more--you can always do more, and you should do more--but still, the important thing is to do what you can, whenever you can. You just do your best, and that’s all you can do” (255). Mary Anne was always helping out when she had a chance to. She was trying to make a library in Afghanistan and was part of a women’s commission. She was always trying to do her best in helping out other, that is what she tells his soon to do. This makes me think that I have never tried helping out my community as I should be. I only help a little but I do not try my best to help out in everything I can. It is probably because I think my contribution will not make a difference.
This brings me to ask, Do you try your best at helping others? Do you think your contribution is going to make a difference? If you help your community or the word, how? If not, why?