Wisdom from a Turtle: Thirty-Something Years of Seemingly Unimportant Decisions
By Michael McWilliamson and Rahul Maitra
()
About this ebook
With the use of hundreds of humorous cartoons, Wisdom from a Turtle shares details about his family and his upbringing and interweaves biblical principles into the lessons hes gleaned from his past. In addition, he provides commentary on a variety topics from raising children, getting a job, spending (or not spending money), and dealing with todays technology. The illustrations which follow the stories will make readers laugh or perhaps even raise an eyebrow when they hit close to home.
In his memoir, McWilliamson not only pokes fun at himself as he relives his past, but also supplies the mental and spiritual tools to help understand and interact with others. The messages communicated in Wisdom from a Turtle provide lessons to better cope with lifes challenges.
Michael McWilliamson
Michael McWilliamson is a thirty-eight-year-old college dropout and convicted felon. He was born and raised in Maryland, where he still lives today and sells junk on eBay for a living. McWilliamson spends his free time doing sketch art, playing guitar, and thinking deep thoughts. Learn more about him at www.wisdomfromaturtle.com
Related to Wisdom from a Turtle
Related ebooks
Live the Life You've Yet to Dream Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsI'm Not Crazy; I'm a Christian: Tales from the Frontline Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNot All Big Kids Are Bullies Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Letter of Concepts & Ideas Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMom Vs. Debt: How I Paid Off $64K in Credit Card Debt in Under 3 Years Without Becoming a Stripper Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Way “I” See the World: A Real Woman Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhat's The Worst That Can Happen? Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFrom Polio to Philanthropy: Seven Fearless Decades in Life and Business Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFar From Simple: Life After Being Not Your Average Teen Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMy Journey of Life with God: Poverty to Prosperity Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhat is an Adult?: ADULT(ing): Manuals on growing up in a society that never taught you how, #1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUgt2blv: How God Worked In My Life Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSkeletons Revealed Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFaith over Fear Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBIGGA YANKEE: A Flatbush. Brooklyn, Story Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFinding Your Passionate Purpose: In Life, Leadership, and Love Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe American Teenager Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSundays with Sophie Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDear Jotham My Future Son How I Learned Common Sense and Began to Navigate the Labyrinth of Life Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsI Made My Choice—Have You?: One Man’S Thoughts on Issues in Our National News and Possible Solutions Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLemonade and Holy Stuff: Collected Essays Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Forbidden Fruit Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsYour Life Is Your Journey Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRights of Passage: Dancing with Shadows Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Love of a Father: and the Journey of His Prodigal Son Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWho the Hell Says I Can’T!! Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Story of Channon Rose Part 2 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Never Say Die: True Life Stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTo Hell And Back For Charity! Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIs This It?: A Journey of Fear Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Biography & Memoir For You
Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, HER Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of the Donner Party Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Why Fish Don't Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Becoming Bulletproof: Protect Yourself, Read People, Influence Situations, and Live Fearlessly Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Stolen Life: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: the heartfelt, funny memoir by a New York Times bestselling therapist Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Good Neighbor: The Life and Work of Fred Rogers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Meditations: Complete and Unabridged Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mommie Dearest Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Good Girls Don't Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jack Reacher Reading Order: The Complete Lee Child’s Reading List Of Jack Reacher Series Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Breaking Free: How I Escaped Polygamy, the FLDS Cult, and My Father, Warren Jeffs Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Taste: My Life Through Food Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Cook's Tour: In Search of the Perfect Meal Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Billion Years: My Escape From a Life in the Highest Ranks of Scientology Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Madness: A Bipolar Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This Is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Young Doctor Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5People, Places, Things: My Human Landmarks Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Killing the Mob: The Fight Against Organized Crime in America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Confessions of a Prairie Bitch: How I Survived Nellie Oleson and Learned to Love Being Hated Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dirt: Confessions of the World's Most Notorious Rock Band Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Seven Pillars of Wisdom: A Triumph Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5On Writing and Failure: Or, On the Peculiar Perseverance Required to Endure the Life of a Writer Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Reviews for Wisdom from a Turtle
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Wisdom from a Turtle - Michael McWilliamson
Chapter 1:
Do You Still Need to Be Forgiven If You Didn’t Mean It?
Growing up, I don’t think there was ever a time that I truly felt comfortable with my family relationships. I can’t quite explain why or how, but my little world just seemed incomplete sometimes.
2.jpgBeing an only child from a semi-broken home accounts for some of it, but it was more than that. When I was about seven years old, my grandparents suggested to my father that he take me to the beach for a weekend bonding experience. Spending time with my dad didn’t seem like too much fun, but the trip sounded like a good idea nonetheless.
3.jpgMy dad and I hit the boardwalk on a nice sunny day. We played pinball and video games at the arcade, we did miniature golf, and then we got to the go-cart course. I’ve always loved vehicles of any kind, and this was surely to be the highlight of the trip. They were not just kiddie carts, but gasoline-powered motor cars that now, incidentally, require you to show a driver’s license to rent. So we got strapped in, each in our own carts, me behind my dad. My dad turned around to me and said, Whatever you do, don’t hit me.
I made a very careful mental note not to hit him. We went around the track a few times, and it was awesome! As the flag came out, I let off the gas early in an effort to coast to a stop in plenty of time to not hit my dad. As I found out, go-carts don’t really coast and the car pretty much stopped when I let off the gas, which was well before the check-in area. By this time, the carny worker was hollering at me to pull the car forward. I eased the gas pedal down. I also found out that the gas pedal on a go-cart is not very sensitive and must be pushed down almost all the way before the car moves. Needless to say, when the car started moving, it was going at about full speed. Before I could stop it again, I plowed into the back of my dad’s car, which totally gave him whiplash. I think this was the first time I saw fire in another person’s eyes. Before I could explain what happened in my disoriented state, my dad yanked me by the arm back to the car and home we went, traveling in silence. I couldn’t believe that—even as careful as I thought I was being—I still hit my dad.
5.jpgI felt like it was destined to happen this way and I would never earn my father’s trust again. As it stood, that was the last father-son activity we ever really did together. Sure, we went bowling a few times because my father was in a league. We did some stuff with my dad’s girlfriends and their kids, of course. But it was never just me and my dad again. It took six months of therapy for me to realize that this was a fairly traumatic experience for me growing up. All these years, I had felt like it was my own lack of awareness that had caused the accident and I was hopelessly incapable of doing anything right. I now understand that shit just happens and how we deal with it defines us as people and not the incident itself. Thinking about my dad’s perspective, it’s okay to be angry about a situation, but you have to let it go eventually.
In the Bible, a guy is talking to Jesus about forgiveness. He asks Jesus how many times he should forgive someone before giving up. Jesus replies that so long as someone is trying to do right, you should forgive that person an infinite number of times. It seems that more people would have better relationships if they actually made an effort to do right and if other people forgave them more readily when they made a mistake.
Chapter 2:
Think of Junk Mail as Free Scrap Paper!
My grandparents mostly raised me, and all of my needs and most of my wants were met. Although no one in the family had a particularly high income, we usually had money to buy important things as we scrimped and saved on the basics.
6.jpgThe junk drawer in Grandma’s kitchen was full of twist ties, rubber bands, scrap paper, and anything else that could be reused.
7.jpgGrandma spent many hours clipping coupons and explained to me how you could save even more if an item was on sale, but that sometimes a name-brand item on sale still cost more than the generic equivalent. Of course, we didn’t compromise on some things, like Coca-Cola or Jimmy Dean sausage.
8.jpgWhen it came to clothing, I was always a good five years behind the styles. We mostly shopped at the Salvation Army secondhand store.
9.jpgGrandma even knew which days they put new
stuff on the racks so we could go and get first pick. She figured a growing boy didn’t need new clothes for play, and since I went to Catholic school, I already had a uniform for that. Grandma actually made me a pair of shorts once to wear for my eighth-grade field trip to Kings Dominion. The jams were bright orange and yellow Hawaiian print and they fit perfectly—standing up, that is. At some point during our trip to the amusement park, I bent over and they split right down the butt seam. One of the teachers had to safety pin them shut to keep my butt from showing and, in a way, it sort of ruined the day.
The next year, I was thrown into the public school system like a dog to wolves. The other kids quickly pointed out to me that things like my parachute pants were years out of style. I realized that wearing a uniform to school all the years prior had not been such a bad thing after all. Despite my vocalization of the ridicule, my father and new stepmother rarely bought me new clothes, and certainly nothing fashionable.
11.jpgIf I wore through a knee in my jeans, they would just iron on one of those patches. What’s funny is that nowadays, most fashionable
jeans come with the holes already in them.
I didn’t complain too often about my wardrobe, but when I did, I was told that when I got a job and made big bucks, I could buy whatever I wanted. Sure enough, when I started working, I did buy a few nice things for myself.
13.jpgOf course, once I was on my own and had bills and rent to pay, I did save where I could and tried to make things last. I honestly did continue to shop at the secondhand stores until I was like twenty-five—and, yes, I even knew what days they put new
stuff on the