#libby strout

"Sometimes they're just shitty people. Sometimes people have been shitty to them. Sometimes they're shitty because they're afraid. Sometimes they choose to be shitty to others before others can be shitty to them. Sometimes someone doesn't like who he is, but then there's this other kid who knows exactly who he is, and that can make that first kid feel even worse about themselves. " - Jack

I think, Jack is just trying to fit in. He wanted to act like the other peers and concealed his weakness - prosopagnosia. To feel the "belongingness", he did what his friends wanted him to do despite of being against it. He was too scared to be left out, to be an outcast and so he did what he did. He became a douchebag.

Jack's not different from us or is it vice versa? We changed ourselves, tryna be a cool kid and do what cool kids do. We try so hard to fit in, that sometimes we forget who we really are. Even though Libby's always been bullied, I admire her braveness and resilience. She's far from perfect and would do things too, like self-defensive shittiness but what differs her from Jack is that she did a step in the right direction. A big leap. While Jack's, still being Jack.

"It's the suddenness of life changing in an instant that makes me anxious when i sleep and makes me tell myself to breathe when I'm awake."

“sometimes it’s actually about the other person and you just happen to be there. Like sometimes the other person needs to learn a lesson or go through an experience, good or bad, and you’re an accessory in some way, like a supporting actor in whatever their scene happens to be.”

All The Bright Places // Holding Up The Universe 

by Jennifer Niven