My adult son proved to me what I’d always known but had never seen in action. Like many people his age when they can’t sleep, he was on the Net at 1 AM. He spotted an ad for a new edition of Jonathan Livingston Seagull, which got him to thinking…and sending me an email. He said, “I just saw something that reminded me of the first book I ever read [JLS]. I think this is why I love weight lifting.”
I think it’s more than that. I think the spirit of reaching for the improbable, working to one’s full potential–that’s what JLS gave him as a child. I’d like to think that his dad’s and my reinforcement of those qualities helped make him the caring, generous, capable, determined, hard-working individual he is today. But I believe that the power of the first book he read, the book he remembers today, can NOT be discounted.