Malcolm X #1 (Malcolm Changes)

It is amazing how drastic the change that Malcolm goes through is. During the early chapters, Malcolm is a person who steals and consumes a large amount of drugs. At first when he is in prison, his handwriting isn’t all that great and the people who he wrote to barely understood what he wrote. As he spent some time in prison, he decided to do something beneficial. He starts going to the library and reading books. He becomes so fascinated by the books he reads that he keeps on reading, even while everyone in the prison is sleeping. He starts reading the dictionary and copying down every single word along with the definition on a little tablet. After he is out of prison, he no longer consumes drugs and doesn’t do anything illegal. He no longer wears zoot suits or gets his hair conked anymore.

I admire Malcolm X for making the decision to get self-educated while in prison. There are many people out there today who break away from mistakes they made in the past and try to make a better future for themselves. I remember that when I was just in the second grade, I didn’t care much about school. All I liked to do was play on the computer and draw pictures. I didn’t like to do homework at all and I was very lazy. Midway through third grade, I was still the same way I had been in second grade. I stopped being this way towards the end of third grade. My mom was the one who motivated me to start reading books. She used to read me short stories, which I loved. I decided to challenge myself and started reading many chapter books from the Junie B. Jones and the Baby-sitter’s Club book series. I became extremely fascinated by these books. After reading all these books, I started to like school and do my homework. I even read during the summer. I changed from being a lazy, irresponsible student who doesn’t do homework to a hard working, responsible student who does all her homework, just like Malcolm X changed from being a druggy/thief to a respectful human being.

There is an article (http://www.gimundo.com/Articles/Daily/1231/11/12/2008/Former_Thief_Sends_Money_and_Apology_Note) that talks about a man who stole four hundred cigarettes from an Indian food shop owner in Bristol, England. The thief, like Malcolm X, used to consume a large amount of drugs. The thief sent a letter and some money to the Indian food shop owner as a way to apologize for what he had done. Like Malcolm X, the thief turned his life around in order to have a better future.