One of the greatest compliments I ever received was when my daughter was in early junior high school; you know that period where teenagers still talk to you?  She was reading the late Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird" and she made the comment that I will forever hold dear.  "Dad," she said, "when I read about Atticus Finch you know who I picture?  You."  That prompted a nice discussion from a memory she had from when she was even younger where, due to a situation that occurred, I offered to  her my thoughts on racism.
       Now of course that comparison makes me stand taller, but the "me" aspect of this is not why I make this post.  I post this for a few reasons.  Firstly, I sincerely hope she has the same feelings about racism as I do.  Secondly, I think what touched me more in my daughter's comparison was something that Harper Lee left behind with her work: a connection shared via generations.

       When I was a sophomore at Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks, California, a teacher whose name I cannot remember, assigned us certain books that we had to read that year, including "Lord of the Flies,"  "Go Tell It On the Mountain," and "To Kill a Mockingbird."  The latter two I loved and though God called me in various ways to become a priest, I believe Atticus was another way that God said, "Here is who I want you to become."

        Like my schoolmate John, I was inspired by the fictional Finch.  Unlike John I did not become an attorney.  I remember speaking with one of the Roman Catholic Brothers about a potential career as a lawyer.  My dreams of wooden courtrooms with no air conditioning were dashed when the Brother brushed aside my imaginings and instead painted before me the boardrooms of the fine industries where Corporate Law could take me.  "And," he added, "THAT is where the money is!"  

       "Gee, thanks, Father."

        I always blamed that priest for me not becoming a lawyer.  Imagine what a little encouragement from the clergyman to the lawyer that I was imagining might have done.  

        Still, God, had a different call in store for me, and maybe used the good Brother.
       So, thanks to Harper Lee (who passed away yesterday on February 19) for creating characters that make us all aspire to the good that we can become.

        Maybe Peter the Priest is closer to Atticus Finch than Peter the Lawyer would have been.  In humility, I know that I cannot sincerely aspire to the fine capabilities written into the character.  However, I am able to give thanks again for Harper Lee for bestowing upon us dreams, possibilities, characters and the chance to feel the connection when a girl, not much unlike Lee's fictional self Scout herself, looks up to her dad and gives him praise. 

        Many gifts from one novel.

        Thank you, Ms. Lee.