Paulo Coelho, the well-known author of The Alchemist, was born on August 24, 1947, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. His parents were devout Catholic, and he was raised in the Jesuit society. He knew at an early age that he wanted to be a writer, but his parents were very much against that. His parents felt that there would be no future in that choice of careers. He was quite a rebellious teenager and his parents actually had him committed 3 times to a mental asylum. Eventually he was out of the institutions and enrolled into law school. That stent was short lived and he soon dropped out for the “sex, drugs and rock & roll” mentality lifestyle in the 70’s. (Biography.Com)

             Coelho wrote, “The world is changed by your example, not by your opinion.” This to me sounds like a quote that means you can only make a difference by doing, not by speaking. You must prove by actions what you want to change or do, not just talk about it. I feel that in Coelho’s life he had a perfect example of this by becoming an author, and a very successful author at that, even at the distain of his parents.

            In my early life I became pregnant at a young age. The quote, “The world is changed by your example, not by your opinion,” would easily be applied to me as a young mother. Despite my immature age, and the belief that it would be entirely too hard for me to be a responsible parent, I did exactly that. I took responsibility for having a child at a young age. The example I set was to prove that it can be done if you believe in yourself and do the right thing, regardless of the opinion that maybe I could not do it properly.

                                                                                                              Works Cited

                                                                             Biography.com Editors. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 26 Feb 2016

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