A Whole New Perspective

Yesterday, my friend let me borrow a book that I've been wanting to read for a while now and I really couldn't be more excited to have it. This book makes me actually want to read - which is saying a whole lot because I'm usually not one to voluntarily pick up a book and read it on my free time. It has really made me put into perspective everything that a take for granted, including things as simple as a loving family and being able to read and write. This book is Taking Flight by Michaela DePrince.

Michaela DePrince is a ballet dancer, who was featured in a ballet documentary about 5 years ago that just about every single ballet dancer has seen at least once. And it sure is a fantastic thing that she was featured in this, or else I may have never known about her, much less her book. Taking Flight is a memoir by DePrince that is far from any other ballet memoir written before. Being only 20 years old, I have to admit that I was skeptical of Deprince's ability to write a deep and meaningful memoir since she was so young and probably hadn't experienced enough in her life to write one. I couldn't be any more wrong. I have only read 36 pages in this book so far and I was already almost brought to tears by what I was reading about what she went through.

Here, Deprince is shown at the far left with the children of her orphanage

It begins in Sierra Leone in the 90's, which was a time when Sierra Leone was torn into pieces by a horrifying war. Deprince had loving parents who treated her well, educated her, and loved her even though she had been born with a skin condition that had given her "spots" on her arms and neck that caused her to be declared as a devil child by every other person. After her father died because of the war, she was forced to move with her mother to her uncle and his three wives' home, were she was deprived of food, water, and everything she loved, including her mother who died later from malnutrition. Her uncle later brought her to an orphanage where she is treated poorly for the sole reason of her spots. Every once and while, I have to remind myself that what I'm reading is actually true and that this really happened to DePrince. When she wrote of her time in the orphanage, she wrote, "When the aunties tugged on my cornrows, I squeezed my eyes closed. The pain took my breath away, but I wouldn't cry until I was out of sight of both aunties." (DePrince 36). This, along with her vivid descriptions of her nights sleeping on grass mats, small portions of rice as meals, and lack of love from anyone around her had really made me think about all the luxuries that I have, yet never even realize that they are luxuries. This new perspective is now tugging at the back of my mind every time I complain about my life. There are so many things that we have that are gifts and this book has already made me see that. At this point in the book, it seems she would barely even stay alive for another week, much less become a professional ballerina- but that's what keeps me hooked to this book.