Happy Birthday, Atticus

Happy Birthday, Atticus Finch!

Today is the 50th anniversary of the release of To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.  I remember reading this book for the first time in 9th grade English class.   If you picture an English teacher (or a librarian) in your head--that was my teacher, Miss Winslow.  Spindly, spectacled, a gray bob of a hair--she was almost a caricature of herself.  Her crackly voice was hard on the ears, but I was grateful that she introduced me to one of my favorite books of all time.

More importantly, she introduced me to one of my favorite characters of all time:  Atticus Finch.  Fighter for lost causes, champion of the underdog, full of integrity--I wanted him to be my friend, my dad, my attorney, my boyfriend, my next door neighbor, President, and heck, I wanted to be him.

He speaks in parables as he teaches his children about life.  And when he preaches to Jem and Scout, he's reaching out to the reader, too.

"The one thing that doesn't abide by majority rule is a person's conscience."  Thank you, Atticus.

"Best way to clear the air is to have it all out in the open."  Thanks again.

"I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand.  It's when you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what.  You rarely win, but sometimes you do."  This is a guy you want on your side.

I could talk more about the book as a whole--its characters, situations, setting, themes--but then I would be writing volumes.    On this anniversary, it's just me and Atticus.  Happy birthday, big guy.