"Cathedral" by Raymond Carver

"Raymond Carver is originally from Oregon, lived in Washington and spent most of his adult life in California. He studied at Chico State and at the Iowa Writers' Workshop. After doing blue-collar jobs for a time, he worked as an editor and then, finally, as a teacher. Carver is considered a master of minimalism-that is, fiction that stresses only the essentials of action and description. Generally his writing is economical, stripped to the bone. Many of his characters seem unusual if not odd or even cruel."

Cathedral to me was a very touching short story. I enjoyed to moral of the story and how it makes you take a step back and take a different look at people with disabilities. I love how the story gave you the background of "blind man" who was later named as Robert, and the narrators wife which I don't remember ever reading her name. I admire her love for the "blind man" and how after all she had been through and where she had traveled she still made time to make a tape and send it to him. It was their "thing." It brought such comfort to both parties. It is tragic that he loses his wife but it also is great that he gets to visit family and come meet the narrator and his wife. The narrator is a little jealous of his wife's relationship with Robert and he is not to good at hiding the fact. He definitely had a wall up and didn't really like the idea of Robert being in town and making a visit but by the end of the story I believe he had a WHOLE different outlook on life:)

I can definitely share my important life lesson learned when relating to Cathedral. I remember even when I was younger, being in a restaurant or out shopping and seeing children acting a fool in public. I was shocked that first of all the kids were acting like that but that the parents were going along with it and not trying to discipline them. I just kept thinking, man if that was me my mom would have already jerked a knot in my tail end. When it disrupted anything I was doing I was ready to say to the parents, "Do something with your child!" Today, I take a different approach. While of course I'm more mature with a husband and two children of my own, my son has Autism. With Autism children have no sense of time, responsibility, they can't control their emotions, they seem confused, they only hear some of what you say because they most of the time live in their own little worlds. My son is now one of those children that are getting the stare downs from other parents and I'm normally the one blowing up at them because they don't understand what I'm going through. There is just some much confusion going on in his mind that he gets overwhelmed and certain sounds, crowds, and places set him off. We try our best to ignore it and sometimes try to discipline but it normally has a reverse reaction. So today instead of giving those looks I say a little prayer for the parents but you never know the situation and just because the kid is having a meltdown doesn't mean they're a brat.