Reaction Paper on Welcome Home Mouse (Reaction Paper Sample)

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The book, ‘Welcome Home Mouse,' is about Stanley, an elephant, who adores helping, though he periodically makes mistakes when he becomes so happy. After accidentally destroying Mouse’s house, Stanley does everything that he can do to build for mouse another house (Kleven, 2010). He gathers several items encompassing napkins, a box, and twigs, and he builds a new house for Mouse. On the other hand, the book, ‘The Quiltmaker's Gift' is about an old woman who makes quilts and refuses to sell them to the rich because she always gave them freely to poor people. One day, a greedy king demanded her to make a quilt for him, but the woman claimed that he would only make him a quilt if he gave out all his wealth. The King then tried to kill her but he failed: Finally, he gave up trying to execute the woman. He then decided to oblige to the woman's demands, and he started giving out his possessions. The story ends when the king realizes that giving made him happy (Marcken & Brumbeau, 2001). This essay provides an article that relates to these books, and it also explains how the main characters of these books relate to me.
The above books mainly narrate about characters who find delight in helping. The article, The Man Who Gives Away a Third of his Income, describes a story that is almost similar to the stories in the two books. This article is about a young man named Toby Ord, an Oxford University student, who always gives away part of his wealth to charity. The article quotes Toby Ord revealing that he has always been idealistic about aiding others. He believes it will be a good thing if individuals start helping poor folks in the third world nations. Toby Ord began his giving by formulating a campaign that he named, Giving What We Can so that he invites other individuals to offer ten percent of their income to the needy. Toby Ord reveals that he decided to give a large part of his wealth to the needy when he realized that he could forgo a luxury so that he saves a life (Gill, 2013). Toby reveals that he was amazed when many people wanted to join his campaign.
The above books and the article have encouraged my view about helping others. Since I was young, I have read spiritual and self-help books that encourage people to help others. Spiritual teachers all over the world also teach about why we must help the needy. They teach that God rewards the person who helps others. I never understood how God rewards a person when he gives. Therefore, I saw that there was no point of giving because once I gave away my things I never got them back. However, the two books and the above article have enlightened me about the rewards that an individual gets when he gives. I have learned that generosity makes the giver happy, peaceful, and joyous: furthermore, generosity enables one to eliminate some bad character traits. The King in the book, The Quiltmakers Gift, was a very greedy man who did not believe in giving out his wealth freely to the needy (Marcken & Brumbeau, 2001). He loved his money so much, but he was surprised on why this wealth did not make him happy. However, after he tried giving out his property, he started enjoying the process of giving because it made other people happy.
I think my character relates to that of the King in the Quiltmakers Gift, at first, I never understood why some folks loved giving part of their wealth to other people. The only difference between this king and me is that I am not a greedy person. There is a time when I started giving out some of my things, and I stopped because I did not see the rewards of giving. However, after reading the Quiltmakers Gift and the book, Welcome Home Mouse, it dawned on me that I always have a sense of peace and satisfaction after giving out my things. Furthermore, the more I help people accomplish their goals, the more I become happy, and the more I come closer to achieving my objectives. Stanley, in his process of creating a house for Mouse, he also became skilled at building a beautiful home. I believe that the author of Welcome Home Mouse, wanted the readers also to understand that in the process of helping others, a person also helps himself.
The author of Welcome Home Mouse describes Stanley as ‘bumpy' because he makes several mistakes wherever he goes on in whatever he does. Stanley always feels sad and embarrassed about his mistakes (Kleven, 2010). However, his helping nature makes him feels so happy that he forgets about his bad side. I also felt what Stanley feels after helping people because I always have an anxiety disorder as I am addicted to worrying. However, when I help individuals, I feel as if I have eliminated my anxiety disorder because I stop worrying about the future and I feel glad that someone is happy just because of me. I now believe that the main thing that makes a giver happy is the fact that a person's life improves just because he decided to help him.
From the books, I have learned that many people will love me if I assist them, and a person always feels goods if many people love him and want to be with him. I, therefore, realize that by helping others, I will also receive assistance from many folks because they will love me. Besides this, individuals also forget the bad things that a person has done if this person decides to help them. In the book, Welcome Home Mouse, Mouse becomes happy when Stanley builds him a better house. Besides, this, even children in the book, The Quiltmaker's Gift, started loving the King when he provided them with the merry-go-round with real horses. One of them even took hold of the King’s hand...