Everything Matters

This book was heartbreaking. I felt so sorry for the characters. Junior didn't know how to feel. It seemed that no matter what path he chose in life, it was the wrong one. I think this book raises some important questions, such as determining the meaning of life, determining what is important and what isn't, and finding out who you are and learning how to make every moment count. Many do not like stories that don't have happy endings, but I don't mind them at all. I feel that those stories are more true to life. I feel like this story's ending was as happy as it could have been, considering the world was coming to an end. The whole family had each other, and they had accepted their fate. Like Junior, I couldn't imagine living my whole life knowing that the exact date and time and circumstance in which the world was coming to an end. I believe that it is a blessing that we don't know these things. If we did, we would live in a constant state of fear, there would be no order in the world, and the world would be a very different place - one in which we wouldn't want to exist in the first place. Some would take on the attitude that nothing mattered at all anymore, while others would find, like Junior did, that everything matters. Everything in life that happens to us makes us who we are. It's like the author stated, even something as simple as stepping on a bee during one's childhood makes a difference in shaping not only who the individual is, but also what impact that bee might have had on the rest of the world. However small the event, however minuscule, he found that it did matter. It took his whole life to figure it out. Even though this book was heartwrenching throughout, I felt that this was the message (and a good one, in fact) that the author was trying to portray. Don't take anything for granted. Appreciate the trials and hardships that you experience - they make you who you are.