What Is a Wallflower?

Dear friend,

Well, I told you that I would try to explain what it’s like to be a wallflower, so here it goes. Charlie writes a lot of letters like this, so I thought that I would too. Wallflowers are very observant. They can be really sensitive too. They generally love people to a fault. This sometimes brings them great pain. Wallflowers can have problems with passivity and not really participating in life (an idea that Charlie explores thoroughly). I guess that makes sense if they’re so engrossed in observing everyone around them. Also, they don’t feel weird about starting letters with “Dear friend,” even if they’ve never met the person before. They suppose that the person very well could be their friend. They hope that the person would be.

They really just want other people to be happy, and they hurt when other people aren’t happy. They don’t understand why bad things happen in the world, and these bad things can really overwhelm them. They often aren’t exactly sure who they are and where they’ll end up in the future. I guess that’s how a lot of people probably are though.

They can be quiet, but they don’t always have to be. You see, being a wallflower is more than speech, it’s a way of being, a certain aura, if you will. At the end of the day, though sensitive, they do show a remarkable form of resilience. They clutch hope tightly to themselves and try to instill it in the other people they meet.

Maybe you already know firsthand what I’m talking about because you’re a wallflower yourself. Or maybe you’re someone who is friends with a wallflower. Me, personally, most days I really like it. It’s hard sometimes, but life would be that way whether I was a wallflower or not.

Sometimes I try to break away a little bit from some of the aspects of being a wallflower, mostly that of being too passive. I really want to live and experience life, but sometimes it’s just more natural for me to sit back and observe it, watch it unfold and devote all of my energy to finding some sort of sense and meaning in it. I guess sometimes I figure that there are enough people actively living but not enough people thinking about what it means to do so. I can do some of the thinking for them and try to share what I find out with them, maybe it will bring them some comfort and happiness.

Well, look at that. I wasn’t sure if I would really be able to explain to you what it’s like to be a wallflower. I guess being one makes it a whole lot easier to talk about. Thanks for listening, sometimes it’s just really nice for us to be able to talk to people for a little while. In fact, that’s probably one of our favorite things. And as always, if you want to talk to me, just let me know. Listening is kind of my thing.

Love always,
Sam