A Separate Peace

     To start off with, I need to say how I love this book.  It is fabulous.

     The book begins in a boy's boarding school during the years of World War Two.  There are two friends, the lonely intellectual Gene and Phineas, (called Finny), who is a taunting daredevil and very good at sports.  They are sixteen, "the key and crucial age," according to Gene, who is the narrator.  Gene convinces himself that he and Finny are in competition with each other, though the truth is that Finny really cares about Gene and wants him to do well, and he doesn't think of them in competition.  He is also so at sports and most other things, he wouldn't dream of it.

     Many things happen, but in the end, Gene realizes that he and Finny were never in competition and that Finny really cares about him.  They were just friends the whole time, never competitors.

     Aspies rarely have a need to compete with people, and we do know that, but sometimes, we, like Gene, get angry at other people's ability over us, whether it be socially or any number of other things.  Silent anger rarely does anyone any good, and in the end, it will blow up in your face.  Things will seem like a competition while there isn't one at all.  Be honest with yourself, nobody's perfect, so you may be better than someone at something, but they might be better than you in something else.  That's the way the world turns.

     You are amazing people.  Go out and be them.

     Originally posted at confessionsofateenageaspie@wordpress.com on May 26, 2011.