How the red fern grows changed my life by Genesis

How the red fern grows changed my life by Genesis - May 2017 Scholarship Essay

Ever since I was a child I have been encaptivated by literature and many works of art. I would lay in bed encaptivated by the journeys the protagonist would face and obstacles they would overcome. When I was in the 5th grade I read the book "where the red fern grows" by Wilson Rawls and it forever changed my life and my perspective on friendships.
In "where the red fern grows" the main character Billy dreams of having a dog in which he could bond with and hunt with, from the beginning of this story I already related to Billy. As a child I constantly begged my parents for a dog, I would beg and make arguments as to why I should have a pet dog and why it would not only benefit me but the family as a whole. As I proceeded in reading Billy's story I fell in love with his persona he was caring, compassionate and hardworking everything that I was at the time and more. Once billy got his dogs after working hard I was ecstatic I fell for his characters bonds with his two bloodhounds and wanted to establish a deep connection with my dog and friends as well. I would play with my dog every day give him many treats and just care for my pet with so much love and i would make sure all my friends were happy and always had their backs. Once I got near the end of the book when tragedy struck and billy lost his to dogs I was a mess, I was sobbing from how powerful the ending of the book was and part of me hated the book for ending the way in which it did,but the ending of the story taught me that life is short and that we cannot always see when tragedy may strike so it's within our best interest that we enjoy the time with those we love and make the best memories possible.
After finishing the book I realized that nothing in life last forever so I should make the best out of all my friendships and not take them for granted because one day they may disappear. Until this day in times of trouble, I find myself thinking about Billy and his choices and bonds with his pets and I realize that even in the worst of times I can always count on those who I have bonded with to have my back and I feel as if those bonds are the mot beautiful bonds a person can establish. While the story is a children's book there are many lessons to learn from it and "where the red fern grows" has definitely had a major impact on how a view life and the choices I make, because the book was an eye opener to death and how things may not always be expeced.