Troubled Pages

"You don't need a reason to help people." I think what a lot of people struggle to understand about kindness is that it doesn’t require much effort at all, to be honest. It took me a while, too. Throughout my entire high school experience it had never occurred to be that a simple smile, or a wave of ‘hello’ early in the morning can make someone’s day. I simply thought that to be a good person, to be kind, you have to constantly prove yourself to somebody else. I thought you had to be acknowledged for what you’ve done. That the only way someone could be seen as being a kind person was when other people could see it, too. But that isn’t the case. Not a single bit. Kindness doesn’t require proof. It does not require anything else, or anybody else, other than yourself. If you are helping somebody, you don’t need them to be a witness of your action. You shouldn’t help them because you know it’s the right thing to do and you want others to see that you’re a good pe

I’ve always believed in the idea that when a certain something is meant to happen, it will. It could be upon meeting someone new, or doing something for the very first time whether you like it or not, or maybe it’s tiny things that you don’t even think about—like saying hello to a stranger when you’re in your grumpiest mood. My point is, it’s true what they say. That little belief of mine is real. The thing is, I’ve never actually took the time to realise it in full. Which takes me back to a couple of weeks ago. I’d just finished rehearsing for a drama performance with a couple of friends of mine. It was late, the weather was getting cold and we were in the university which was staring to become empty at the time, so I decided to take the tram home despite the fact that my place is just two stops away. I went on anyway, finding an empty seat and immediately getting comfy. Little did I know that it was going to be the most crowded tram I’ve ever been on.  By the time it got t

"Things are rough all over." -S. E. Hinton, The Outsiders I was introduced to this story by my English teacher back in middle school, and I don’t know what it was that caught me the most, but I fell in love with it. Maybe it was the characters, the power of friendship that’s strongly expressed, the scarcity of love and kindness in this world, the unexpected ending, I don’t know. Maybe it was all of those things. My point is, sometimes it is our favourite stories that we’re not sure of, but we hold on to it anyway. We hold on to it dearly because to be honest, in the strangest ways it changes us. We also hold on to it because to find something so close to our heart is rare in today’s world. “You still have a lot of time to make yourself be what you want.” - S. E. Hinton, The Outsiders I remember reading the last page for the very first time. My table mate’s already spoiled the ending for me, but I didn’t care (although, I did hold a tiny little grudge on him f

"I think about the drawing his drawing of me. That girl he drew, she was beautiful. That girl wasn't a gray sky. She had hope. Hope is beautiful." -Jasmine Warga, My Heart and Other Black Holes I’m aware that I haven’t been writing for awhile. College’s been keeping me busy. For the past two months I’ve drowned myself in the world of Gothic fiction thanks to Literature class, meaning that I’ve basically spent my winter break with my nose stuck with classics, like Dracula and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. So, here I am again, finally able to get back to my regular reading habits. A couple of days ago I decided to pick up a novel I’d been so excited abuot, but never got around to read. And let me tell you, I have not been able to put it down ever since.  ‘My Heart and Other Black Holes’ by Jasmine Wanga tells the story of Aysel and Roman, two teens that are obsessed with planning their own deaths. Meeting online and setting up a date to let go of everything, th