For Brampton teens, on a normal, regular day, we wake up in our comfortable bed, have a bowl of cereal, get dressed in our usual brand name clothing, sling our backpacks over our shoulders and walk, take the bus, or get a ride to school. For teens, our worries lie in grades, relationships, and the latest hypes on the Internet, TV, and at school.
Now imagine a much different morning.
You wake up on a mattress, if you are lucky, that you won’t be sharing with at least two other people. There isn’t enough food for breakfast, so you go straight to getting dressed in whatever isn’t torn, after grabbing a plastic bag with your school books in it, you walk a kilometer or two to get to school.
For teens, our concerns lie in money, family abuse, getting a job after high school, and living past the age of 50. The book, The Absolutely True Diary of a part-time Indian by Sherman Alexei, depicts the life of a 14-year-old Spokane Indian, Arnold Spirit, living on the reserve. Filled with comedy and clever cartoons, the story of Arnold Spirit unfolds. A boy, just around the same age as us, opens our eyes to the little things, the big things, and the things we should not take for granted. With the power of doodles, a new perspective on life is shown. A perspective that sees unfairness, cruelty, racism, as well as happiness, perseverance, and the meaning of family.
Living on an Indian reserve meant only one thing, that you could never get more, never strive for better, just live, work and die in that very same reserve. Until one day, a change came. Arnold’s journey into foreign, a.k.a. “white”, territory shows us all that you can always expect more for yourself. Along the way, he battles identity issues, and the pressure of society bearing down on him to cast off his aboriginal culture— much like how we may battle with ourselves on choosing what we want the world to see when they look at us. Through the hardships Arnold experiences, he proves to us all that you are never powerless. The Absolutely True Diary of a part-time Indian, has very important lesson, a lesson that applies to the old, young, African, Greek, Chinese, Indian, Japanese, Tamil, deaf, blind, and everyone in the world: You can always change your destiny.