This post is going to be a bit different,
I'm going to talk about a truly spectacular book
this book is called The Fault in Our Stars,
by one of my favorite authors, John Green
oh my word.
This book tells a beautiful story of love and loss, it wasnt cliche, it wasnt contrived it was simply perfect. The protagonist of the book, Hazel, is a 15 year-old-girl who has cancer and it tells her pulchritudinous story. While this story is fictional, I've been a nerdfighter for awhile and have a small understanding of some of the inspiration that went into this character and went into this book (RIP Ester Earl). Cancer has been a reoccurring character in my life hopping in and out and infecting those I love for awhile now like a twisted, malicious jack in the box, while we live our lives, its just winding under the heaven-forbidden-possibility that it may just surprise us. That tricky little joker has taken the life of my grandfather (lung cancer), my Aunt (brain tumor) and has infected both my parents, my father with a small case of skin cancer and my mother who had breast cancer. Since I'm only 18-years of age I've found that many matters of unhealth weren't told to me, like I was too small and too docile to handle it but this book filled in the gaps. While everyones struggle is different this book really helped me understand what dealing with cancer is like on a first person basis.
And while John Green taught me all about cancer and all about beautiful teen love her taught me something even important, the issue and matter of dealing with death. Many of you readers know my friend Sascha passed away this past fall due to a Asthma attack and I've yet to let her death sink in. I mean, I can repeat the phrase "Sascha is dead" a thousand times but those words fly through the air, vapidly and superficially as plastic bags floating into oblivion. This book made me think about her death, and I mean really think about it, sometimes thoughts of Sascha would penetrate my heart like a dagger and I would feel physically ill and scared and other times thoughts would permeate in like a calm white wash over my entire body (those thoughts I preferred). This book reminded me that while moving on is important, and living a good healthy life is important, remembering those who passed is important too, and not in a superficial way, not in "you will live in our hearts forever" way, but in a "you were crazy, funny, and really deserved a longer life" way.
But the biggest thing that I was reminded of while reading this was a quote from Shakespeare, that coincidentally is not only the inspiration for the title of the book but a strong foreshadow for this book and for our individual lives
"The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars/ But in ourselves"
and while many can disagree with this, I interpret this to mean that while life may hand us some sour lemons occasionally, the fault really isn't in life's' obstacles but how we handle them.
and while I wish things played out differently on this little orb suspended in a sea of stars we call home, we cant change the past but live our lives and make future decisions the best we can.
So please DFTBA, keep it sassy and READ THIS BOOK
I highly recommend it
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox
