Mandy Smith's Blog - Posts Tagged "sam-lightner"

Five words. They reduced me to tears, and I lay down my book. I had looked forward to at least an hour of reading time before I turned out my light to sleep, but just a few minutes into chapter 9 of "Sam: The Boy Behind The Mask" I had to stop reading and close my eyes.

Back in 2000, I'd followed the several-installment story of Sam Lightner in The Oregonian. After drawing in thousands of readers with his powerful and inspirational writing style, journalist Tom Hallman, Jr. would earn the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for this story. The following year, he elaborated more on the story and published a book--one I've just now read. So why the tears from a story I know so well?

It was the part where, finally, a surgeon is willing to take on 14 year-old Sam's surgery request to fix his life-threatening facial disfigurement. They've already discussed the possible risk that Sam may not survive the surgery, but the surgeon really wants to be sure of Sam's expectations. There's a possibility there won't be much of a change to his appearance at all. I'm holding my breath; Sam is so quiet I pray he isn't going to say he wanted to look like John Travolta or something. I can't bear the thought of Sam being hurt or disappointed any further.

Finally, Sam said those five words that I can't get out of my mind: "I want to fit in."

That's when the tears started. Isn't that what we all want?

Now, 14 years after the book was published, I'm still grateful that Sam wanted to share his story with the The Oregonian, so others would find inspiration when they don't fit in, and for Tom Hallman, Jr. and his gift in story-telling.