TOLERANCE

Acceptance is a bitch, especially in the promotional sense. Even Ron DeSantis must promote “The Courage to Be Free.” However, I would rather promote Emi Nietfeld’s memoir, “Acceptance.” In fact, if I were a high school teacher I’d include it on my class syllabus.

And why not? It is chocked full of relevant issues: mental illness, sexual identity, sexual abuse, suicide, and institutionalization—all experienced by a teenage girl with an all-or-nothing goal of getting into an Ivy League School.

Here are a few of her thoughts—

…before being placed in a hospital for an eating disorder: “I was sick of adults insisting that a change of attitude, a dose of positivity, and a regimen of deep-breathing exercises would fix my fucked-up situation.”

…on cutting: “I hated it when people called self-harm a ‘cry for attention’ and hoped the damage I’d done silently proved it had nothing to do with attention.”

…on Harvard: “I was beginning to realize that any exclusive system was a system of exclusion.”

If you have tolerance, if you’re curious about Emi Nietfeld’s accomplishments, then I strongly recommend reading her book. If you don’t, then go ahead and read that other Harvard graduate’s self-congratulatory memoir.

https://thevillagesun.com/emi-nietfeld-wont-reconcile-the-easy-way-with-her-past