( this is the back cover of the alchemist, a book i highly recommended, I see the same theme in this book in the story )
Journal 6 : callings reading response
The profile that caught my interest was on page 51. The story was told of Thomas McGarvey who is a dentist. I felt that I appreciated the message he had to give in his story. The takeaway was in the last sentence which stated “ so whatever it is you want in your heart, and in your gut...and once you’ve got it, don’t ever let it go”. I feel like this is the same message I got from reading the book called the alchemist. If I had to pick the overall theme of that book it too would be to go with your dreams, and never look back.
Something I found amazing about his story is how I believe he overachieved. He worked at 12 years old to help support his family. He later on went to the navy and worked as a dental technician. He excelled at the coursework, and painted a picture in his head of what he wanted to do. This story is remarkable because he didn’t know his calling at an early age. He had some experience from tech school that made him realize what his calling was.
I too relate somewhat to McGarvey being a creative person. He too like me has an immigrant background. I admire his work ethic. He has been a practicing dentist for 44 years. I like how he shared that dental school was one of his happiest moments in life. He states that he still has the drive for dentistry at 71 that he had at 21.
Fatima,
ReplyDeleteI agree that he has overachieved. I hope and pray that I can have a realization like Thomas did. I feel like everyone gets hit with their calling at different times and that is just the way life is. It is a journey and it takes effort. If you really try to search for calling you can find it. It could take some time or you can find it early. It is all in the journey. Good work. I enjoyed reading this. It has me thinking in a different perspective.
Best,
Abigail
Fatima,
ReplyDeleteI like McGarvey's profile as well. He struck me as being a very responsible character. It was interesting reading about his family environment and the trauma him and his siblings went through at such a young age. It almost reminded me of Maurice when you said "He excelled at the coursework, and painted a picture in his head of what he wanted to do." Maurice also would vision or have a good intuition about something whether it was for him or not. Also at the end of the passage McGarvey says how our attitudes can become our life lessons.
-Alia