Jeanette Walls

Listening to Jeanette Walls speak was one of the most humbling and extraordinary experiences I have ever had. All of her stories seemed more real when she was telling them. She seemed very optimistic, which I found surprising considering the childhood she went through. She had such great analogies, like the demon. The demon represents a fear is and you have to fight it in order to beat it. You have to face your fear. I understand now why she is not still angry with her parents because she accepts the way they are. Her dad had a different past, and her mom might have some issues, but you cannot change someone, and you cannot change what they have been through. You could try, but if it were not for her parents, she would not be where she is today or look at things the way she does. I really admire her because even though she had such a rough childhood, she had goals and the determination to get herself out of where she was, and she did it well. She also believes that anyone can do the same if they really want to. I could tell that she looks at the positive side of things. When she was telling a story about her dad, she could have picked any bad story to tell and what awful thing her father did, but instead she told the story about the time when her father gave her a planet for Christmas. It was not a legit gift, but it was one of the happier times she had with her father, and she told that story instead of something upsetting. She really made me want to look at things differently. College is hard work and it is so easy to get frustrated, but if you have a goal and determination, you can get through just about anything.