Isabelle Lande

Dear Jodi Picoult,

I have never sued my parents; I have never been rushed to the hospital because my sister needed a blood transfusion. I have never lived in my sister's shadow and I have never been my sister's keeper.

Yet, when I read your book, My Sister's Keeper. I realized something. No matter what you know is right and what you know is wrong, you can't force someone to do something that they don't want to do. They must make their own chooses, from having the choice in what to wear to having a choices whether or not you what to give your sister a kidney.

In your book, it wasn't that Anna didn't want to give Kate the kidney; she wanted the choice to give her the kidney. As I reflect back on my life, I think about how me parents gave my brothers and I the freedom to choose what we wanted to do, as long as we stayed with it until it ended. As I think about our country's history, our government has given us the freedom of choice. We can choose who leads us, who we marry, our religion and to voice our opinions. When our country was first founded, it was founded on the principle of freedom and that principle still applies to today.

As I read on in your book, I discovered that there is always someone that your choice affects. Kate, Anna's sister, wanted Anna to have a real life and asked her not to give up her kidney. By asking Anna not to give up her kidney, she had made the decision to die. While I was pondering about what Kate had asked, I thought about how every word I spoke and every action I take will affect everyone around me.

While we all make our choices, there are always others opinions trying to persuade you to do something different, for better or for worse. In your book, the mother and her love tried to persuade Anna to give Kate her kidney, but she never gave Kate a choice to decide whether or not she wanted to give her kidney to her sister.

Though I have never sued my parents or been my sister's keeper, I know I have a choice. I also know my choice affects everyone around me, and that there will always be someone trying to influence me to do something different. Every choice I make and every dream I follow, I know who wrote the book that changed my views and taught me about choices, and so I thank you. Thank you Jodi Picoult for showing me what one little choice can do.

Sincerely,
Isabelle Lande