"I Just Want To Be Average"

After reading this essay it certainly makes me realize how lucky I am. I take so many things for granted, so when I read or hear a stopry like this, it makes me feel sad. All of the things that I take for granted are things that people, like Mike Rose, only dream of having. Mike Rose's father inspired me because even though he was very sick, he still managed to keep his family together. He never complained about how much pain or suffering he was in, which truly is incredible. Roses' father tried to be the rock of the family, and from the sound of things he did a excellent job. I enjoyed reading about the special relationship that Mike and his father had; it was something special.

The last paragraph from this excerpt was the one that I thought had Rose's main message. He says, "What finally affected me was subtler, but more pervasive: I cannot recall a young person who was crazy in love or lost in work or one old person who was passionate about a cause or an idea" (122). He then went on to say, "I developed a picture of human existence that rendered it short and brutish or sad and aimless or long and quiet with rewards like afternoon naps" (122). These two quotes gave me the idea that Rose'schildhood affected him in a neagtive way. It painted him a "picture" of society that no young child should have to deal with or understand. His childhood taught him that life was tough and most of the time things are not as promising as they seem. It is sad that Rose had to experience these things at such a young age. Most kids are lucky enough and do not have experience the struggle that Rose had to.