The Alchemist

                                                    

    The boy had went to an old woman to help him interpret his dream. She told him there was a treasure in Egypt and that he only need to give her one-tenth of the money once he found it, for the payment of the interpretation. He then encountered an old man, said to be the king of Salem. The old man told him everyone has their own Personal Legend, which is the dreams they want to follow. However, there is also a mysterious force making people believe it is impossible to pursue the dreams. After several conversations, the old man suggested the boy to go to Egypt and find the treasure, with one-tenth of his flocks. He told him a story about a boy asking for the answer of happiness from a widest man. In the story the wise man gave the boy a spoon with two drops of oil, and asked him to not spill it in two hours. After the boy had carefully avoiding the oil to spill out. The man asked him if he had seen the beautiful decorates in his house. But the boy was so concentrated on the spoon of oil that he didn't have time to notice the beauties surrounding him. Therefore, the wise man told him to go back and do it again. This time, the boy took deep looks into the wise man's house, but end up spilling all the oil out of the spoon. The wise man then told him the secret of happiness is to see through all the marvels in the world, and never to forget the drops of oil on the spoon. The shepherd then understood the meaning behind the story: he shouldn't forget the flocks even he strived to become a traveler. 

    I personally think this is an important point, that people can easily forget the things they have when pursuing the goals or dreams. In this book, it talks a lot about dreams and the comfort zone we are in. It talks about how a boy's life was different only by one day. He was a shepherd yesterday, but the next day he had sold his flock and all of his money was stolen in a foreign country. It also talks about decisions, the old man gave the boy a black and a white stone for making decisions: the things we deal with are just one thing, and nothing else. I can really related to it, since I am so afraid of making decisions that it usually took me so long to do it. The decisions we make can cause effects to our future, and we will never know if the impact is good or bad. That's what makes the decision so difficult. There were times for me to make decisions end up like the boy, feeling comfortable and rich on the previous day but lose everything on the next day. Those big decisions were mostly made during the turning points in our lives, and they can really change peoples' lives. However, when looking back, there are always things I appreciate from the bad decisions I made, they might turned out amazing or taught me something. Therefore, I think in the further story, the boy would find his personal Legend. (Or I will feel desperate about life)