By Kathleen Lynch, Staff Writer
I spent the whole evening crying. Why? Because my literature teacher assigned us a short story that would have made The Rock break down. The story was so raw, and I could feel the stab of each word in my heart. It was a beautiful sort of pain. The kind you know you will never let yourself feel because it could easily be all too real. It was as if the words were scratched into me and with every sentence closer to the end, my tears fell faster.
My teacher told me if this story didn’t make me cry, I have no soul. I denied this. Emotion is for the weak, and that is definitely not me. I don’t care what she thinks anyway. That story made her cry? Well you know what that must mean.
I made a friend today. She also cried during the story. I feel like; to share a story is to share a piece of one’s soul. I don’t see how someone could read that and not have cried. But then again, some people are so afraid that they don’t know how to stop pushing everything out.
I just don’t get it, it’s just a story. Who cares! It’s not like it’s real or anything. Maybe it could be, but whatever. Right? It’s not like it’ll change anything.
That story changed me. I feel different now. Ready to appreciate those around me. Those that I love, and those I have never met. We all have something in common, we just have to search to find it. To feel it. There’s something connecting us. All of us.
But what’s the point? Everything looks the same. It’s all a dull grey. Tell me, why do I feel so empty? My heart is heavy with disappointment. But that is a weak feeling. So I push it away.
I made another friend today. This one didn’t cry during the story. It’s easier that way. When everything causes pain it’s easy to block it out. It’s a necessity. But it doesn’t solve anything. It just leaves you a hollow empty shell of a person whose heart is fractured with no hope of repair. But I have hope.
I made a friend today. She cried during the story. But she seems happy now. Until she met me at least. Then she got kind of quiet. She didn’t seem weak at all. In fact, she was really strong. So much stronger than I was. She actually let herself feel the pain. She let herself be vulnerable. And yet, she’s stronger than I could ever be.