But Nothing Disturbs The Feeling Of Specialness

How Wrong To Have Been So Negative, How Wrong To Have Been So Gloomy, How Wrong To Have Run Away From Life, How Wrong To Have Said No, Again And Again, Instead Of Yes.

I Was A Late Child From My Parents, So I Grew Up Surrounded By People A Lot Older Than Me. I Think Even When I Was 21, I Felt Like I Was A 70-year-old Man.

When I Finally Gave Up Any Hope Of Doing Anything Representative Of The American Family, I Actually Seemed To Have Tapped Into Other People's Weirdness In That Way.

[t]o Love A Specific Person, And To Identify With His Or Her Struggles And Joys As If They Were Your Own, You Have To Surrender Some Of Your Self.

But Nothing Disturbs The Feeling Of Specialness Like The Presence Of Other Human Beings Feeling Identically Special.