i actually copied this from another blog that i follow, here, but it's from one of my favorite books (i have yet to buy myself a copy tho!), the catcher in the rye. (i'm one of those people who will highlight passages and write little notes and fold down tons of pages in a book because i swear i'll go back to them when the time is right...and i always do). this passage has always stuck out to me, among a billion other ones in that book. i love the idea of learning from other people, and in turn, others learning from me. makes you feel like you're really making a difference in the world if you really reaalllyy think hard about it and make an effort.
among other things, you'll find that you're not the first person who was ever confused and frightened and sickened by human behavior. you're by no means alone on that score, you'll be excited and stimulated to know. many, many men have been just as troubled morally and spiritually as you are right now. happily, some of them kept records of their troubles. you'll learn from them--if you want to. just as someday, if you have something of offer, someone will learn something from you. it's a beautiful reciprocal arrangement. and it isn't education. it's history. it's poetry.
the catcher in the rye
j. d. salinger
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