We make choices everyday. From what shoes to wear to what college we should go to, all the choices we make somehow impact our future. Catherine Pulsifer once said, “Life presents many choices, the choices we make determine our future.”
In A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines Grant Wiggins chooses to visit Jefferson even though he doesn’t want to this is important because by doing this he creates a better character of himself. It is clear to see that in the beginning of the novel, Grant was selfish and overall just negative about life itself. But after his aunt Tante Lou talked some sense into him and forced him to visit Jefferson his character changed, he was not this selfish man anymore he was then a caring individual.
Of course in the beginning when Grant first found out that he had to make Jefferson a man he was infuriated and responded with words like, “I’m supposed to make him a man. Who am I? God? ’’(Gaines 34). But eventually he came around to the idea and actually started to like him a bit, “Today was a good day I really think I reached him”(Gaines 79). An example of this is when he went out of his way and bought Jefferson a radio.
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Eventually it was clear to see that Grant cared not only for himself, but also for Jefferson. Grant changed from a person who was filled with stubbornness and unwillingness to a kind person who showed great empathy for others. Just because he made the choice to follow what his aunt told him to do it changed the next chapters in his life. On countless hot summer days my brother and I would walk to the end of the road to get my neighbor’s mail. We would give it to her for a piece of candy or a cold ice cream bar in return. When the leaves were falling we were at her house raking up and jumping in piles of leaves. When the temperature dropped and there was snow on the ground we walked across the street with shovels in our hands bundled up with coats, boots, hats, and mittens on our way to shovel her driveway. When the driveway was all clear we would run to the hill in her backyard and we would go sledding. Looking back I realize I spent almost everyday at my neighbor, Grace’s house. Yes it’s mostly because my mom told me to but it does not change the fact that she really impacted my life, just like Jefferson impacted Grant’s life. Like Grant, I was forced to do something I didn’t want to do but I am a better person because of it.
Ever since that experience I have learned not to be selfish and to make decisions that not only are good for me but are also good for others making me and better person today. We make many choices everyday usually not even realizing we make them. Each choice we make impacts us for better or for worse. Grant’s choice to visit with Jefferson changed him and what he had for his future. It changed how he viewed his community around him and it made him choose to stay in the town of Bayonne.
Let us do the same and let the choices we make in life better us for the future and change us for the better just like Grant did.
