About a week ago I opened my mailbox to a book called "The Walk" by Richard Paul Evans. ABC 4 viewer Betty Quinn mailed it to me with the author's signature and the hand written message, "To Noah, walk with hope."
Evans is a frequent New York Times best selling author with 14 million books in print worldwide.
I can understand why after finishing "The Walk" a few hours ago. Here are my thoughts.
Have you ever felt alone and lost? Have you ever felt like you were the only person to suffer a particular pain or grievance? If your answer is yes, then this book is for you.
It's about a successful young man named Al Christoffersen. Three new characters are introduced when he loses almost everything important in his life. They are loneliness, despair and anger.
They destroy Al's hope and come close to taking his life. He doesn't know how to fight the three so decides to walk across the United States. His journey is both literal and figurative.
Along the way he meets ordinary people who have had extraordinary experiences. They help Al to overcome his demons.
Allow me to share one of my favorite parts of the book on page 217:
The thing is, the only real sign of life is growth. And growth requires pain. So to choose life is to accept pain. Some people go to such lengths to avoid pain that they give up on life. They bury their hearts, or they drug or drink themselves numb until they don't feel anything. The irony is, in the end their escape becomes more painful than what they're avoiding.
This book suggests personal tragedies can be good. It is our choice. They can build us into something better than we thought possible. The key is our own personal agency. We must choose to live despite what life throws our way, but I think it's more than this. I think we must choose to thrive.
I recommend this book.
