John Thompson, author

John had to read a book, called Speak, in his English class. It was a sad book. It was very disturbing for him to have to read how the main character in this book suffered so. Stupid book! The main character of the book had a safe place that she would go to. So, one of John's assignments related to the book was to write about his sanctuary. So, if you know John, his first response was....."I don't have a sanctuary". Men don't have sanctuaries. Period. The end. Couldn't talk him into anything. And, honestly, if he was associating a sanctuary with the main character of the book, he was never going to be able to equate sanctuary with a good thing. So, he had to make something up. And he did such a good job, I wanted to share it with you. He remembered a tree that we saw in Florida. I will have to go look for a picture in a minute. And he wrote this story about that tree. Hardly had any help at all, just grammatical.

My Sanctuary

BY: John Thompson

My sanctuary is in an unlikely place. It is at my hunt club underneath a mammoth tree. The tree is so big that it makes an island in the swamp surrounding it. It has limbs growing into the ground from other limbs like a child too tall for the monkey bars. And I rest in a hammock just thinking, and relaxing from school. I am a withered flower; being forced to read a sad, depressing book called SPEAK.

It takes a good minute to get to the tree. I am a boat plowing through four feet of marsh and swamp. As I walk to the island I can feel the splotches of sun warming my back. When you finally get there you have to climb through limbs and small spaces. One last tight squeeze and there’s my hammock and I’m home. It’s not much but it works for me.

I like going there when it rains. The sound of rain droplets on the leaves above soothes me. The tree has large leaves that protect me from getting wet. The tree is my personal butler that holds up my umbrella for me while I rest. It is very peaceful. It is like white noise except you see it and hear it rather than just hearing it.

As soon as I get to the area where my hammock is it takes all my concerns and worries away from me. I feel empty in a good way, like a cloudless sky. I feel like there are no problems happening at that time. I have no troubles. The tree speaks peace to me.

This is my sanctuary. It takes a while to get there. It sounds and looks peaceful. Everything seems to disappear when I’m there. This is my sanctuary.