Researching the Self

As a young adult I have read numerous books through my college years, high school years and before that have meant a great deal to me. However if I were to choose one book that impacted me in the most significant way, I would have to pull a book from my early childhood. A Fruit and Vegetable Man by Roni Schotter was the beautiful book I was read as a child. Not only were the pictures beautiful but the story line taught me significant lessons that I still hold close today. My entire family grew to love this book and hold the morals of the story as our own. The story depicts a proud man (Ruby) who owns a fruit and vegetable store for fifty years and refuses to retire as he ages and grows ill. When Ruby becomes ill, a young immigrant child and his family are who he turns to. 


Although at the time I was five and being read this book I mostly enjoyed the gorgeous pictures of the fruits and vegetables and Ruby and the child's family, I've realized since then that the messages inside the story were ingrained in me and made a difference in me even as a young child. The book was primarily about pride and showed me even as a child the significance of pride and being proud. I was a very timid child and still to this day at some points my instincts are to step back and let things I'm afraid of go on without me. Of course in my life today when I feel this way I do not think to myself, "Well Ruby and Sun Ho would have done this", but the story taught me these lessons that I still carry with me now as I am much older. 


The story also had a theme of multicultural and inter-generational relationships. As I had a unique schooling beginning with preschool (I was in a bilingual education program where 95% of the students were immigrants from Spanish speaking countries) these themes were something to be applied directly to my life. Although we know skin color and descent don't define a person, as a young child it is easy to be intimidated while being the minority. As a white, female, middle-class Jew I stuck out very much in my first several years of schooling. Ruby's relationship with the immigrant family and their help and outreach towards Ruby helped me to embrace my unique experience. Looking back on the story now and the my experiences since last picking up this book, I know this story definitely taught me a great deal about accepting and helping others as I hope to work in public health to reduce health disparities. I am thankful for this story and hope I continue to learn how meaningful the messages within the story are to my life.