When Joel and his best buddy, Tony, decided to take a ride to the State park, they started on a journey to push their limit on what their juvenile mind and body could endure like any other 10-year olds. Joel made a promise to his father that they will be back home safe. ”On my honor” he said and was warned not to go near the Vermillion River.
Along the way, the two boys decided to take a detour and explore the river instead. Tony initiated to take a dip but Joel initially declined. With Tony’s persuasive bullying on Joel, he decided to challenge Tony for a swim. When he reached the sandbar, Tony was not within sight. Fearing the death of his friend, Joel must face the consequences: to go home alone and tell his parents about the news.
In the book, the author, Marion Dane Bauer, distinctly contrasted the characters of the two boys, Tony as a daredevil cloaked under an underprivileged living while Joel is a good son to a more blessed family. And what I found most interesting in the book is how Bauer narrated the panic that Joel felt when he realized Tony had drowned; the rush of guilt on how to tell the bad news to their parents; and the depression that he had lost the company of a best friend. The interpersonal conflict was grippingly and perfectly told, and the experience of reading the book was like getting into the mind of a real Joel.
Personally, I also had a close encounter to drowning. I was with my brother when it happened. And while indulging into the book, the memories flooded my mind. While on the water, I can only see water bubbles, white light and the screaming of my sister in the background. And after all that, my father was quick to save us. We did not lose a life, but the experience made the story closer at bay.
Aside from being a book on pain, guilt and conscience, it also holds a space for healing. The last scene, when Joel finally told his parents about what happened, Joel found refuge in the arms of his father, a father who understands and ready to help a battered soul pick-up the pieces of a shattered life. This reminds me of a course in a seminar I had attended before about Ancient Paths. It is about endowing of blessings, how parents are responsible to the emotional and spiritual wellness of their children, form conception, to birth, to adolescence until death.
On my honor is a book that chronicles a boy’s struggle with conscience, told simply and timelessly. It is an ageless contemporary classic. A must read for those seeking a place where to start their soul search.
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"On my Honor" is a book by Marion Dane Bauer, a Newberry Honor Book Awardee in 1987
