The Perks of Being a Wallflower

by Stephen Chbosky

“Charlie, we accept the love we think we deserve.”

Then, I turned around and walked to my room and closed my door and put my head under my pillow and let the quiet put things where they are supposed to be.

“Not everyone has a sob story, Charlie, and even if they do, it’s no excuse.”

“I feel infinite.”

I don’t mean the big fraternity party kind of movie. More like the movie where the guy meets a smart girl who wears a lot of sweaters and drinks cocoa. They talk about books and issues and kiss in the rain.

And all the books you’ve read have been read by other people. And all the songs you’ve loved have been heard by other people. And that girl that’s pretty to you is pretty to other people. And you know that if you looked at these facts when you were happy, you would feel great because you are describing “unity.”

I would give someone a record so they could love the record, not so they would always know that I gave it to them.

But because things change. And friends leave. And life doesn’t stop for anybody.

“I would die for you. But I won’t live for you.”

every person has to live for his or her own life and then make the choice to share it with other people.

So, I guess we are who we are for a lot of reasons. And maybe we’ll never know most of them. But even if we don’t have the power to choose where we come from, we can still choose where we go from there. We can still do things. And we can try to feel okay about them.

And even if somebody else has it much worse, that doesn’t really change the fact that you have what you have. Good and bad.