Obstacles are always a part of the path to achieving one’s goals and although it may not be easy to overcome obstacles, but it can be wonderfully gratifying. The journey of overcoming such obstacles can be quite joyful and can make life rich. Overcoming the obstacles in life is like reaching an ultimate pinnacle of success, and those who manage to do so are able to feel a sense of true accomplishment. Primarily, Mark Salzman’s True Notebooks is the story about discovering the life of the children who live behind the gates of the Central Juvenile Hall and they challenges they face there. Although the obstacles in people’s lives depend on the environment surrounding them in the place they live in, but everyone one of us has the capability to overcome our obstacles, no matter how tough they may be. Mark Salzman’s True Notebooks contains several examples of how we can overcome obstacles and how we should deal with them.
We get the biggest example of overcoming obstacles at the beginning of the book from Salzman himself, who is writing a novel about a juvenile delinquent character but his character is not realistic enough. A friend offers Salzman to attend a writing class at the Central Juvenile Hall where he teaches to help him with the development of his character. At first, Salzman is hesitant and unwilling about going; he states that he “feel[s] unqualified to evaluate poems about AK-47s,” however, he ultimately the class even though he is hesitant and ends up teaching a similar class himself at the juvenile hall. This not only helps him in overcoming his obstacle of developing a realistic juvenile delinquent character for his novel but also encourages of writing a nonfictional account of his experience of teaching a writing class at the juvenile center. If Salzman’s friend had not offered him to attend the class he would have probably been stuck with his unrealistic character for a much longer time and the True Notebooks would not have been written.
The above example shows that overcoming obstacles on our own can be far more difficult than overcoming them with the help and support of a good friend. After all, they say that a friend in need is a friend indeed. Friendship is a strong form of social support other than the family. Friends who are loyal to us will always offer us support and wise advice when we run into an obstacle. When we find ourselves facing an obstacle we are not able to overcome, the easiest thing to do is ask a friend, or a family member for that matter, for advice. Another thing this example shows is that when are unable to get past an obstacle, no matter how absurd it may seem, we should believe in whatever friendly advice is offered to us just like Salzman did against his better judgment. A genuine friendly advice, no matter how simple may help us overcome huge obstacles as it did with Salzman.
Another example of overcoming obstacles in Salzman’s True Notebooks comes from Francisco Javier. Initially, when Salzman asks for Javier to be a part of his class, the guards are apprehensive and state that, “his behavior has been disruptive lately” (Salzman 31). To readers, Javier may seem like a kid who would sneak pencils out of the class and stab people. Apart from his ‘disruptive’ persona, another obstacle he was failing to overcome was to write formally using correct grammar. Despite being a long way from going straight, Javier gains faith in himself through God and this faith makes him yearn to get out of the hall to change the world. As for him inability to write, Javier writes a letter to Salzman, admitting that, “[he] never thought [he] had that talent till [then] and [he] believe[s] [Salzman] will help [him] develope it” (38), and with Salzman’s influence and help, Javier overcomes this obstacle as well.
The above example shows that no matter how difficult an obstacle may be it can always be overcome with the power of faith in God. In the book, Javier also admits that he never used to pray while he was on the outside, part of gang, and that it was only after he was sentenced to the juvenile hall that he found God. This is most often true because many of us do not have faith in God and fail to understand the power of faith until we are afraid, hurting, or facing an obstacle that we cannot get around. Only then do we realize that faith in God can serve as a means of overcoming life’s obstacles. Similarly, just as Salzman serves as an influence to Javier to overcoming his obstacle of inability to write, a positive and strong influence, whether it is a friend, parent or teacher, can unconsciously influence our decision-making process and motivate us to thrive to overcome our life’s obstacles.
One final example of overcoming examples among others that can be found in Salzman’s True Notebooks is that of Kevin Jackson. It is arguable that Kevin Jackson was Salzman’s favorite student because of how nice he was, and he shows immense growth throughout the story. It can be assumed that Kevin’s biggest obstacle was life in juvenile hall itself and his inability to undo the murder he committed. Despite his situation, Kevin manages to maintain a hopeful attitude throughout the book. As result of maintaining the hope of getting out, Kevin is able to maintain a good behavior in the hall. He ends up becoming leader in the writing class and encourages others to join the class as well. Even though, Kevin is ultimately sentenced to life in federal prison for another 66 years, Kevin somewhat overcomes his obstacle because he seems to come to peace with his situation and despite the bleakness of his situation, Kevin’s poem on the last page of the book reveals that he is still hopeful.
Much like Kevin’s life and situation, at times life can feel like an endless path of roadblocks. Many times it feels it seems that we cannot get past the obstacles in life to get to where we need to go or do what we want to do. It seems like these obstacles are thwarting our life. Many times we are not able to overcome these obstacles no matter how hard we keep trying, but like Kevin, we should be hopeful and patient, and we should never give. Hope can not only lead us to overcoming such obstacles but can also make our life bloom with fresh beauty and joy, just as it happened for Kevin. When we are facing tremendous difficulties with obstacles blocking our path, hope can give us the strength to not only overcome these obstacles ultimately but also to bear them and face them, rather than back down and giving up.
Obstacles are a natural part of the path to becoming successful. Regardless of what endeavor we may be pursuing, we will always end up facing some obstacle. Obstacles are a reality, but they do not necessarily negative. Perhaps, facing an obstacle may show us who really is our friend during our dire times, or it may test our faith and restore our faith in God, or it may even test our resilience, and those who manage to maintain that hope and not give up will manage to overcome the obstacles. Based on the examples taken from Mark Salzman’s True Notebooks, this is what readers will most likely learn about overcoming obstacles.
Works Cited
Salzman, Mark. True Notebooks, A Writer's Year At Juvenile Hall. Vintage, 2006. Print.
