A re-read

So I'm home earlier than most of my friends and I have been spending a lot of quality time with my family...whether it be the normal fistfights, bickering, tears...we stick together because that's what being a family is all about. Anyhow, it's been great winding down and thinking about what I want to do after this break, goals I want to achieve in this time off. I crept back to my favorite shelf in my bookcase and found amongst my favorites, one of THE favorite. Need I say more about my adoration for this book?

The Things They Carried
by Tim O'Brien

I know, it looks like one of those typical books about war, and I won't tell you that it's not but I just want to recommend it to readers...because it is truly a special book.

It consists of short anecdotes...short stories with intensely raw emotions woven through them that triggered something inside of me that I didn't know was there. I did not understand war from this novel, because I haven't experienced it...and I live a life far from that described in this novel. Yet, I have had these emotions described in O'Brien's stories...the feeling of regret, the weight of responsibility and love, fear to see those around you leave...disappear...die.

The vulnerable side of the human creature when we are so stubbornly entangled in the love of others is exhibited in the most heartbreaking way under O'Brien's pen. As predicted, the idea of death allows the actions of his characters to be justified under that context. I especially feel gravitated towards how O'Brien uses the human capacity of remembering and the power of our memories to illuminate why each character stands where they are today...

This quick re-scan and re-read of some of my favorite stories from this special novel made me see again, why I stick to what I believe in. In this world filled with shifting values and numbness towards life&dedication...it is important to re-track your WHYs...
why you do what you do and most importantly, why you are what you are today. 

Grab a copy of this book and you may find a story that speaks to you like how some of them spoke to me.