 |
| Clay Jensen returns home from school to fins a mysterious box with his name on it lying on his porch. Inside he discovers several cassette tapes recorded by Hannah Baker-- his classmate and crush-- who committed suicide two weeks earlier. On tape, Hannah explains that there are thirteen reasons why she decided to end her life. Clay is one of them. If he listens, he'll find out how he made it the list. |
I first saw this in FullyBooked, Eastwood. I really got curious about the title, good thing was there was an open copy and so I randomly opened the book and read one of the pages and in that instant I knew I wanted to buy the book. And it didn't disappoint. As I turned the page of this book and as Hannah shared her reasons for committing suicide I could feel her pain. I could feel where she was coming from the helplessness she felt, how people just taken her for granted not even trying to know her despite the rumors and the gossip going around the school. She took all of it and it crushed her, broke her which eventually led to her death.
As I said earlier I felt the pain that Hannah was feeling. I think we've all been through something that we've always thought that no one could ever understand what exactly we are feeling. After reading this it dawned on me, are we really misunderstood by people or we just don't let them in enough to actually understand us? I mean, let's face it, if we look closely there must be that one person who wants to help us. Who despite what it takes would understand us. You get me?
Personally this book reminded me how even the small things we do to another person, matters. On the surface it may seem small but we have to remember we don't really know what they're going through inside and thus we do not have a single idea on how one thing, no matter how small it is, affects the other person. Sometimes, we just go through the motions not knowing how much we have affected the person next to us. For us it may seem silly but for them it is personal, too personal even. No one would really know how exactly a broken person feels because as broken as he/ she is, she still wouldn't let everyone know that she is. We all have our own coping mechanism and what we show other people is how we only intend other people to see us and of course this has more depth to it than what we know. So yes, its true when people say or you read the statement "you only know my name and not my story". People could just jump into conclusion create gossip that would eventually believed as true by most and yes, it could break the person talked about, apart.
I have been through what Hannah has been through well not that kind of gossip but I could relate to her in terms of letting those words said about her get to her and act based on that. I've been through so much criticism in my life that it broke me that even, I, myself doesn't know who I am anymore. Its hard just dealing with people who say hurtful words towards you, but what's tougher is that you have to battle the fight on your own. Its not merely you against them but its you against yourself. As they say, 'you are your own worst enemy'.
Give some people a slack, give them a break because you do not know what that person is going through. Try understanding people even more. Look beyond what the eyes meet. People especially those like Hannah have their walls up and doesn't really trust anyone. Its hard to earn the trust of those people. So if you really want to be of help, be sincere and don't ever give up on them. Don't you ever give up on people. You have to give them more time, you have to make them feel that you could be trusted, you have to make them feel that unlike the others, you won't hurt him/her and keep in mind that you will never know how a simple 'how are you?' matters to the broken.
PS. Here a link to a Tumblr post about the book. Quotes. Quotes and more Quotes. That could actually help you understand this blog post even more.
No comments:
Post a Comment