Weekly Blog Post: Peace, Love, And Baby Ducks

Peace, Love, And Baby Ducks by Lauren Myracle

          You know that amazing feeling you get inside you of when you realize you can totally relate to your book? Well, this feeling has never left me once when I was reading this gorgeous book. This book tells you that you're not the center of the world; so don't try to be it. I can't tell you how many times I have met someone like this, but what I can tell you is that the more attention you beg for, the less attention you receive. So again, this book is really important and it will be important to you if you read it. But this book also tells a fascinating and eye-catching story of adolescence, family and friends, being different, and (why, of course) love.

          Now, let's discuss more one attention. Attention is not a fragile thing and it can be easily placed. But sometimes it is placed in the wrong hands. Carly, the main character doesn't want attention, but by that, she actually gets it. Now Trista, is supposedly the evil girl who ruins everything. Pair her up with Lydia and Peyton (Carly's friends) and you would get one those mega popular cliques that lets everyone know that they're superior, inferior, and will not be knocked down. The thing is that you can see that those kind of girls are practically crying for attention. Not attractive. But sometimes it's not that person's fault; maybe they just get attention without even noticing it. Anna is Carly's younger sister with a ton of spunk and a body that every single girl wants. But it's not Anna's fault that every boy whistles when she passes by. Carly actually blames Anna for having such ''nice'' features and it really makes me wonder: What if someone close insulted me like that? The problem wouldn't be in my hands anymore; it would be on everyone's hands. Anna can't seem to control it and neither can the whole female population. Now, that might seem a bit conceited, but it won't seem that way if you really knew that person (and for this case, the person is Anna).

          But handling attention is part of your responsibility and it's also part of growing up and going through adolescence. Carly's the type of sister who's super protective of her younger siblings. Now this can be positive if Anna was the type to be easily caught up in drugs, but Anna's way above that. Carly seems to want Anna to always stay her little sister, not younger sister. My parents are like that and sometimes it goes a little overboard. Your children or siblings will grow up and they will all grow up no matter how much you want them to stop. Truth is, there's no stopping someone from growing up. Carly seems to learn that along the book and she basically accepts the fact that everyone will grow up. She was actually not learning to grow up herself and it made her seem too careful. I've always been the type to make sure I copied the homework write or maybe just write two more paragraphs in case. But Carly seems as if she's ignorant to the rest of the world. She wants to do everything her way and she can't see that everyone else has feelings too. This again is Carly learning to grow up and learning to understand people even if you don't like them. Carly actually made up these ''rules'' that nobody could break; does this seem a little immature to you? Because it seems that Carly doesn't want anyone to think differently from her. I know how she feels, but this is wrong; it really is. My mother actually puts me through this suffrage and now I can really see that Carly's friends and little sister is really hurting.

          Accepting other people is just learning how to make friendships and how to build relationships with your family. Rejecting everyone's feelings and opinions is not a good way to live; trust me. I used to think that everyone else was a wrong and I was right no matter what. I can tell you that it does feel good because it makes you feel higher than everyone else, but what about the feelings of the people you hurt? Anna seems like the one that takes the most blows from Carly. But Anna doesn't stand up for herself and tell Carly about her flaws. Friends and family talk it out, no matter how hard it is. You don't just silently sulk about your friends without just telling them what's wrong. Friends are like jewels; you either have it or you don't. Making everyone else seem unsuitable will just make you friends and family more distant from you. So maybe just trying listening then go ahead and talk. But maybe sometimes you are right, but just remember nobody's perfect and you'll always make mistakes in your life. You'll always have your friends and family for that and they'll always guide you through those mistakes.

          Accepting everyone, including the ones you can't relate to is hard, but being different is no shame. Let's just say that Carly completely lives by that rule of always being different and always not seeming to be like everyone else. When you think about it, it's sort of tiring to always be the unique one. This is where Carly is at. She makes everyone think she's different, but she's really not. I don't try to be different; I just try to be me. I know a lot of people who think they're different and what not, but they just seem like everyone else. This again brings us to the attention problem. Carly doesn't want attention, but she gets it anyway and yet she still eggs Anna on getting attention. That isn't fair no matter which way you look at it. So maybe just being yourself is the better road; not trying to be as wacky as you could be.

          But some people love you no matter what kind of person you are. I can say my friends are like this and I hope they'll always be like this. Carly's been through so much and she changes from this to that, but her best friend, Roger, is always there for her. He's not Carly's type, but you can see that Carly's just blinded by the fact that she has a crush on hot guy that will never like her. I hate people like that (although I might be one of them) that can't even see that what they've always wished for has been there right on their nose this whole time. But hey, love comes from many different ways; you'll never know. The fact that Carly is not only ignorant to other people's feelings, but also ignorant to believing that somebody else could like her is simply revolting. Carly seems to miss out on a lot of things that are way more important than her thoughts and she doesn't seem to get that. I know most people like thinking about things their way, but seeing something from a whole entire new view can be great too. So maybe just create a little ore space for the people you love; they deserve it.

           This book let me see a whole new world that I've never dared to step out into. It gave me not a only an entertaining read, but a lesson on life as well. And it can relate to me. So maybe just pick up this book just to share the peace, love, and maybe even baby ducks. Just don't stop thinking about the people you love!