You say you're not special because the world doesn't know about you, but that's an insult to me. I know about you.
John GreenSuffering can bend & break us. But it can also break us open to become the persons God intended us to be. It depends on what we do with the pain. If we offer it back to God, He will use it to do great things in us & through us, because suffering is fertile... it an grow new life.
John GreenYouโre joining us for dinner, I hope?โ asked his mom. She was small and brunette and vaguely mousy. โI guess?โ I said. โI have to be home by ten. Also I donโt, um, eat meat?โ โNo problem. Weโll vegetarianize some,โ she said. โAnimals are just too cute?โ Gus asked. โI want to minimize the number of deaths I am responsible for,โ I said. Gus opened his mouth to respond but then stopped himself.
John Greenthe problem is not suffering itself or oblivion itself but the depraved meaninglessness of these things, the absolutely inhuman nihilism of suffering.
John GreenReading with an eye towards metaphor allows us to become the person weโre reading about, while reading about them. Thatโs why there is symbols in books and why your English teacher deserves your attention. Ultimately, it doesnโt matter if the author intended the symbol to be there because the job of reading is not to understand the authorโs intent. The job of reading is to use stories as a way into seeing other people as a we ourselves.
John Green