Book Study - Journal Entry #5

Lessons in Heartbreak
by Cathy Kelly



Values. What are values exactly? On dictionary.com it says
17. to consider with respect to worth, excellence, usefulness, or importance.
18. to regard or esteem highly: He values her friendship
are just a couple of the many definitions.
It can also mean what you believe in and what you stand for. All of the woman in this book believe in love but that it is cruel to most who happen to fall in it. All of the woman are indifferent situations but they all believe and wonder why something so wonderful can be so horrible at the same time. Three of the four woman's love story involves infidelity, one finds her best friend and husband together while the other two are the mistresses. The two know what they are doing is wrong, but they keep having the affair. In the one case the man lied to Izzie saying he was separated from his wife. I think in these two cases the men are at fault not the woman. They didn't mean to fall in love with the men, and when they did, they knew nothing would ever come from it. The men went back to their wives, leaving the mistresses in the dust. In a way they were going against everything they believed in. Lily went against what she'd been brought up believing. Her religion. In her religion she is not to commit adultery and even if the man (Jamie) divorced his wife she couldn't marry him. That was also against her religion. In fact there is one point that she says she may be committing a sin, but she doesn't care. Apparently she'd rather go to hell. Izzie never wanted to be one of those mistresses, hidden from everything(everyone). She didn't want to have to hide her love, but somehow she was "sucked in" by this Joe. She also went against everything she believed.

All the women in this book believe in themselves. They know they will know what the right thing to do is, when the time comes. They all have faith, in themselves, their family and friends and in God. They think that as long as they love Him, all will work out eventually. And in some kind of way it does.

I guess you could say my values are similar in some sense. I do believe that cheating is horrible . defiantly not something I would ever wish upon someone. I believe my family and friends are the most important and special hings in our lives. we should never let go of them. Things may be messed up sometimes, there will be highs and lows(don't I know it!), just as long as you love them and are willing to try hard to work things out, all will be okay. I love my family and friends, I rust them with everything I have. Without them, I see no reason to live. I guess you could say that I believe there is no life without love. (Kinda dramatic) Now, I don't really know what to think on the whole religion part. I have extremely religious relatives who have tried to persuade me to have faith, but I don't know yet. I am only fourteen so I have plenty of time to think about that stuff(hopefully), so can't really relate in that sense. I am also sure my family share the same values as me and Izzie, Jodi, Lily and Anneliese. So my values are to stay true to myself and that my family and friends are the best "gifts" I'll ever get.

October 7, 2009