Game Changer

by Neal Shusterman

They say be careful what you wish for, but you know what? No matter how careful we are, it’s not enough. We should know by now that anything we desire, and anything we achieve, comes at a cost, and with consequences we didn’t care enough to consider.

It made me wonder how many important causes were crushed not by opposition, but by lukewarm support.

I’d noticed that once I acclimated to a new reality, it became dominant. As if all of the other worlds were receding toward some mental horizon—and the further away a world got, the less real it seemed. There were times that I had to remind myself how many worlds away from home I actually was.

I felt those useless emotions again. Guilt and shame. Like somehow I had pissed in God’s teacup, and not even he knew.

Even the most inflexible things start to give when you bend them enough. Either that or they break.

When something rings true, it resonates. Even in someone who doesn’t want to hear it. Even in someone whose very identity hinges on it not being true.