The Prophet, Your Choice for Reading

The Prophet, Your Choice for Reading

An Dongmei (Annie)

In this new semester, which is a good time for you to grow up spiritually, I would like to market a book to you. While, I am hired neither by the bookstore since I bought this book in China, nor by the publisher. Let me ask you who do you think hired me do the marketing then? The author? Impossible! The author, Kahlil Gibran, already died many years ago. However, in a way you are right, it is the author who hired me. The author hired me through his wisdom and soul in his writing. The twenty-eight chapters in this book are about twenty-eight topics such as on love, on giving and on death. I want to share my interpretation to this book by just summarizing three points. How many of you have read this book, the prophet? Well, for those who have not read, you can consider whether it is worth reading; for those who have read, you can evaluate my interpretation to this book.

The first point comes from my first time reading this book. After reading, I realize that life is just like an adventure. We often forget that, owing to our everyday routines. For example, we leave home for work, acting and believing that we will reach our destinations without any unusual event keeping us out of our set expectations. But the truth is that we know nothing. For instance, we do not know where the car will fail or when the bus will stall, or whether, we will arrive and stay alive till the end of our journeys. Therefore, let us treat life as an ongoing adventure so that when what we expected to happen does not happen, we are able to remain flexible to notice and acknowledge it. We should bring all our energies to each encounter. We should remember that we are created creative and can invent our own scenarios.

The second point comes from some certain chapters, such as on pain, on crime and punishment, as well as on law. I learnt that no one experiences the same world. Although we all live in the same environment, we make many worlds. There was one quite boring English tutor in my Junior College. She made us spend every whole afternoon on listening. However, none of us liked such long and boring time. But she enjoyed it and thought we also enjoyed it. After we told her the truth, she still continued. At that time, most of the students complained, but few did not. This book told me that when you don’t like something you are supposed to change it; while if you cannot change it, then change the way you think about it. I just treat the listening as the toughest listening training and the time with her as a training of my patience and tolerance. No one could predict whether I would meet such a person as my boss in the future. Never waste time in complaining.

My third and last point is from the time when I apply what I read to my life--we sometimes need a readiness to forgive. To forgive, I do not mean that we should suffer like fools gladly, but rather remember our own shortcomings, and when encountering another one with flaws, don't be eager to righteously seal ourselves away from the offender forever. Take a few minutes and imagine ourselves having just committed the action, which has set us at odds.

As I mentioned in the beginning, these three points are my simple and short summary, according to my understanding to the wisdom and soul of the author. Life is a pure adventure; do not complain since we are in different world; keep a readiness to forgive. I did not talk too much on the context of the book. I leave the context to you, wishing you could read by yourself. While, more importantly, to find your own interpretation. The prophet -- your choice for reading.