We have to learn from our pain, grow from it. Honestly, I think it may be the only way to truly make progress, not to be morbid or pessimistic. I've come to realize that after recovering from significant desolation... the world is much more beautiful than one can imagine. Suddenly, everything is in full color and all I can think is... why isn't everybody overjoyed with this one-of-a-kind experience?? So, I ask you... is it so hard to believe that there can be no beauty without pain, no happiness without pain?
I read this book once, Dahlia's Gone by Katie Estill... it's a good book, sure, but it also has so much meaning and truth.
It
isn't everyday you come upon a book like that. To sum it up, the lives of
three women are joined through the murder of a daughter. Their lives are
consumed, tearing them apart, only to be reunited by the disheartening truth of
justice. You might be asking yourself how the heck it is possible to be
inspired by murder and crime and tragedy, but I can explain. I find meaning in
the novel through the fact that no matter how badly things get for the
characters, things still manage to look up in the end. Obviously, the murdered
character did not come back to life and much struggle remained, but there is
that moment in which you feel everything is going to be alright regardless of
everything else. It's about being able to find the ability to smile through
your own tears.
I think it's important that people know of this, that they know how beautiful recovery is. But don't get me wrong, I didn't wake up one day and find myself in a perfect parallel world or anything. I just woke up to the sound of rain against the windows and realized that everything was so incredibly beautiful. The grass, the secluded streets... everything. For a second, all of the problems in my life became manageable... even forgotten. There is no absolute pain, no pain so harsh that life and existence is void. There is pain so agonizing that we mistakenly perceive it as being absolute though. It isn't easy to see the brighter side of things if you've fallen so deep into the shadows. It isn't easy being happy, pretending to be happy, or even being simply sociable at times. Sometimes, it's just so hard to exist.
You have to know the difference between LIVING and BEING ALIVE. There is a difference between LONELINESS and SOLITUDE. There is a difference between what YOU see and what I see. BUT...there is no difference between WHAT I am and WHAT you are. HUMAN.
I don't claim to know everything, or that I will ever even get close. I don't claim to be the best person, the nicest, or even the most genuine at times. But everybody has flaws, and those flaws make us unique. Tomorrow isn't just a day for self-injury awareness... it's a day for human awareness... for acknowledging the pain of somebody other than yourself... for extending a hand to somebody... for simply acknowledging their existence and valuing their worth as human equals. It is about time we put down our phones, looked up from our laptops, and realized that there are PEOPLE around you. There is life all around you if you bother to look.
Every book is the sweat and tears of an author, a glimpse into a different world, and a message. People don't go through the frustration of writing good books for the heck of it. Each plant, each tree, each form of life is a delicately balanced life form in a frail ecosystem. Human beings. We are not machines meant to sit around all day, living a life of nothingness, interacting in the most meaningless of ways... we are human beings. Tomorrow is March 1st, 2013... Self-Injury Awareness day. To me, it is a chance to represent an idea much bigger than myself, it is the chance to represent humanity at its best... a chance to represent the value of the human experience.
Tomorrow is March 1st, 2013. Self-Injury Awareness Day.
I've just told you what it is to me.
What is it to you?
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