“I knew every one of them by appearance and personality. They were individuals to me.”

Lewis describes his attitude toward the chickens he raised as a child. His treatment of the livestock closely mirrors his own empathy and advocacy for mankind later in his life.

“I began spending more time doing schoolwork, studying, and my eyes began opening to the world around me.”

Education was the key that unlocked a new way of looking at the world for Lewis. As evidenced in the theme about the power of scholarship and education, Lewis’s pursuit of education enabled him to recognize the injustice around him and provided him with the tools he needed to combat those disparities.

“By the time I was five, I could read it myself, and one phrase struck me strongly, though I couldn’t comprehend its full meaning at the time—’Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.’”

Lewis was greatly influenced by the social gospel. From a young age, Lewis understood the biblical message of this passage as a call to apply the principles of love and faith to the injustices of the world. He wanted to “take away the sin of the world” through advocacy and education.