If you follow TWLOHA, you know we share encouraging quotes on our Twitter, as well as on our Here We Collide blog. Through the years, some of the most eloquent and comforting words we’ve found have come from Stephen Chbosky’s stirring young adult novel, The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Though the letters within the book are written from a teenager’s perspective, the insights offered are timeless. Charlie wasn’t just writing to an anonymous friend, but to everyone, and his thoughts resound, regardless of age or experience:
“We accept the love we think we deserve.”
“I want you to know that I am both happy and sad and I’m still trying to figure out how that could be.”
“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 didn’t talk about anything heavy or light. We were just there together. And that was enough.”
My first encounter with The Perks of Being a Wallflower was for a project during my Adolescent Literature course in college. The class was a last-minute selection, the book even more so, but both impacted me in ways I hadn’t expected. Perks was a difficult read, to be sure—perhaps not one for everyone to undertake, but I’m glad I stuck with it during those late nights in my dorm room. While I was no longer in high school, and my life bore little resemblance to Charlie’s, his confessions still echoed my own longing for sincere friendship, my desire to write, my belief that our circumstances don’t have to define us, my ache to feel infinite again.
Now, a whole new audience is being introduced to Perks’ eclectic characters on the big screen. I finally had a chance to view Chbosky’s film adaptation of his beloved book last week, and while I’ll always prefer an immersive reading experience, I felt raw and hopeful and satisfied by the time the credits rolled. It again reminded of the companionship and freedom a story like Perks can bring. That is perhaps one of my favorite things about it—its commentary on how songs, books, and films can provide a safe space and an opportunity to find community. I wonder if Chbosky knew at the time that he was creating such a uniting piece himself.
Film, music, literature, and other creative works are powerful opportunities for finding and expressing oneself. They are proof that something beautiful can be made of even the most troubling and heartbreaking of circumstances, even if the beauty is merely in the realization that other people are walking through the same things, on your street and around the world.
What makes you feel infinite? Turn it up, read it again, quote it as much as you need to—and “believe that things are good… and even when they’re not, they will be soon enough.”
—Alyce