During my sophomore year of high school, I was in a dark place, due to me not transitioning from middle to high school very well. See, in leaving my middle school I was forced to say goodbye to a small group of classmates, who I had know for the better part of a decade. This issue fueled by my arrival to high school. I was in a large unfamiliar place, and I considered the majority of my 1500 classmates to be complete and total strangers. However, reading the Catcher In The Eye, in my sophomore English class, was the outlet that I desperately craved. Reading about Holden and his struggles, gave me a comfort that I had never previously experienced from a piece of literature. Just knowing that I wasn't the only one who felt like a loner and didn't belong was incredibly therapudic, and in hindsight, served as the turning point for my high school experience. So in short, I must thank you Mr. Salinger for helping make me the person I am today.
This quote from Little Miss Sunshine sums up my high school experience perfectly
Dwayne: I wish I could just sleep until I was eighteen and skip all this crap-high school and everything-just skip it.
Frank: Do you know who Marcel Proust is?
Dwayne: He's the guy you teach.
Frank: Yeah. French writer. Total loser. Never had a real job. Unrequited love affairs. Gay. Spent 20 years writing a book almost no one reads. But he's also probably the greatest writer since Shakespeare. Anyway, he uh... he gets down to the end of his life, and he looks back and decides that all those years he suffered, Those were the best years of his life, 'cause they made him who he was. All those years he was happy? You know, total waste. Didn't learn a thing. So, if you sleep until you're 18... Ah, think of the suffering you're gonna miss. I mean high school? High school-those are your prime suffering years. You don't get better suffering than that.
Frank: Do you know who Marcel Proust is?
Dwayne: He's the guy you teach.
Frank: Yeah. French writer. Total loser. Never had a real job. Unrequited love affairs. Gay. Spent 20 years writing a book almost no one reads. But he's also probably the greatest writer since Shakespeare. Anyway, he uh... he gets down to the end of his life, and he looks back and decides that all those years he suffered, Those were the best years of his life, 'cause they made him who he was. All those years he was happy? You know, total waste. Didn't learn a thing. So, if you sleep until you're 18... Ah, think of the suffering you're gonna miss. I mean high school? High school-those are your prime suffering years. You don't get better suffering than that.
So one more time, thank you JD and Catcher In The Eye, for letting me suffer, being my therapy, and making me realize who I am, flaws and all.
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