The Forbidden Books

            Rule one:  be respectful.  Rule two:  listen to your father.  Rule three:  do not wander.  The fourth unspoken rule is:  do not think for yourself.  If you follow the rules, you will be okay, you will be safe.  There will be no punishment for you, no one armed with a belt or wooden spoon in your bedroom.  Well, I have a secret.  I don’t follow the unspoken rule.  I haven’t since I was four, and first got my hands on a book that my father did not allow us to read.  Yes, my brothers and I have “assigned” reading.  Assigned by our father, and taught by our father.  Most of them have to do with farming plantations, or American history, due to the fact that my father owns a large plantation.  He wants my brothers and me to take it over when we are of the proper age, so he has decided to turn us into his little minions.  Well, my brothers can be fooled into turning into my father’s minions, but he cannot hide me from the rest of the world just so I will do his bidding. 

            These unapproved books have my saving grace from the menial tasks of everyday work on the plantation.  They offer knowledge beyond what my father teaches, and a myriad of works and theories in mathematics and science.  Learning about Galileo and Copernicus, infinity and zero, and the anatomy of a human being have opened my mind to see the world differently that of a young boy living on a farming plantation.  All that I want to do is share this information with my brothers and my family, but then I remember my father’s unspoken rule.  If my brothers and I were allowed to think for ourselves, as I have been doing, my brothers may not have the desire to take over the plantation for my father.  After exploring countless of my father’s unapproved books, I have realized that the plantation is not where I want to be for the rest of my life.  I could do so much more with my life; I could explore the world, or I could come up with the next Pythagorean Theorem.  Even though I am only 10 years old, I made a promise to myself after reading that first forbidden book.  I will not be bound by father’s wishes; I know now that I have control of my own life.