The Perks of being a Wallflower is a life changing book. It taught me that part of growing up is making mistakes and knowing who we really are as persons especially when we are in our adolescence stage. Sometimes, we may feel that we are lost, insecure and imperfect. But these feelings are just normal. We may feel too much happy that we don’t care already whatever we’re doing as long as we’re having fun. But we have to remember to control ourselves and know our limitations before we regret something that we’ve done. I realized that there are people out there who need more love and guidance from those who surround them. There are kids who are begging for help not to commit suicide or feel pain because of lack of attention, love and support. There are teens that go through psychological and emotional problems that seek for what are they are missing in their lives. This is why some of them do things beyond their limits and result to unwanted effects. They take drugs, become addicts in smoking, engage themselves in sex, have homosexual relationships or get pregnant at a young age. The influence of media, peers and technology affects the way most teens live their lives. Whether what they see or hear is right or wrong, they do it because they say everybody does it as well and makes them feel good. But if we ever get into a bad influence, we must turn ourselves around back to what is right to learn from that mistake. I’ve also learned that we should know how to listen. Sam, Patrick’s step sister, taught Charlie in the near end part of the story how he should be able to make his own decisions and not be always influenced by what other people say to him. She encouraged him to be honest in his ways and let his own mind speak. I knew she was trying to let Charlie go out of his own shell and be strong enough in standing alone. Charlie also learned the power of prayer. When he was so sad about the death of his aunt, he would always pray and think about her. Being a wallflower like Charlie, he has his own benefits. People trust him because he’s not too loud and he knows how to understand others. He believes on being a good friend and would do anything for anyone he loved. Sacrifices are made and everything that happened in the life of Charlie taught him that he is living a life no one has. I think he is more than just a wallflower.
In my own stage of growing up, I’ve always felt I was different. Not really different in a bad way. Probably Charlie felt the same too; that he was different in his own ways of dealing life. I don’t consider myself a wallflower though because I’m not a shy person obviously but I do know when to talk and when not to. I’ve experienced the feeling that people push you to do something that you don’t like. I’ve went through that dilemma where someone made up something wrong behind my back and I didn’t know what to do. I’ve gone through that time of rejection, being confused and feeling like an introvert. But what I learned from people who would not believe in me is to become stronger. I’ve learned not to fight back literally, but to prove to them in the right way how I would handle their misunderstandings at me. We can’t really control people people’s own opinions or impressions. I’ve always set in my mind not to use comparison between me and others because I’ve always believed that there will always be greater and lesser persons than I. I’d rather be in the middle than to gain a lot then lose everything in the end. I also believe that there are people who will love and hate us. I think everybody has a good soul. But we are also teenagers. We’re smart kids but we also make mistakes. I’ve crossed paths in my life that I didn’t expect to. I went through walls that have fallen down and encountered difficulties that I thought I wasn’t strong enough to face. But you see, God never forgets that we have strengths and weaknesses. He as well tries to make us realize that we have all the abilities in the world. We just need to use them well. Growing up is not always going in a straight line. Growing up is not as sweet as candies or always getting what we want and have the best things in life. But growing up is filled with our roller coaster days of curiosity, making mistakes, taking chances, learning and knowing more about who we are and who makes us truly happy. Sometimes we just need to be pushed a little bit harder to feel infinite and to see what our life looks like when we’re already driving on the right track.
When you read this book you will realize that you’re not the only one struggling to find the best things to do in life and to patch things up with your own mistakes. It will teach you that you don’t always have to hide or run away from what scares you if others know who you really are. Just believe that you are strong. Just feel infinite.
