Before I had encountered the works of Bryan Davis, my behavior was fairly typical for that of a student my age. I did what I thought was a good idea at the time, and simply hoped for the best, for I knew that if it went poorly I could always request aid from my parents or another responsible adult. However, my simple and careless attitude changed when I read the first of his books, Raising Dragons. His books spoke of the values of dedication, honesty, righteousness, compassion, responsibility, humility, honor, chivalry, and a host of other ideals that I had only barely considered at the time. His words inspired me to follow the example set by the protagonists of his magnificent tales, causing me to change my life in ways that continue to this very day.
In fact, these changes have been noticed by many of my peers, to the point where many of them know me as “that boy who always holds the door” and “Stevie, the kid who never gets angry or yells at people,” which are names that I have actually been called in the past. Due to his teachings, I have reformed my own behavior so that I can now live a life that reflects the values of honor, integrity, and perseverance, values that are exhibited in various facets of my life ranging from attaining a black belt in Tae Kwon Do in three years to getting separated from my tour group at the zoo when I was in eighth grade because I held the door for the entire crowd that was behind us.
While working to uphold these various ideals can often be difficult, as shown in my prior statement involving the zoo, Mr. Davis’ stories have influenced me to continue carrying out these actions without concern of any inconvenience that it could cause me. These values also have aided me throughout my curricular career, for the perseverance Mr. Davis has shown me kept me working on schoolwork, even when that caused me to work for six consecutive hours three separate times in a week, and made sure that I continued to do my very best work in every assignment.
Additionally, I have been able to benefit in my extracurricular activities as well thanks to his teachings, for the compassion he taught me to show allowed me to both push myself to my personal physical limits for the sake of a theater cast or speech team and to always work to lighten the load of any fellow cast or team members.
Truly, thanks to the influence of Bryan Davis I have become a far better man than I would have been. Through his literature, I have found my own convictions, and have been empowered to follow them.