My world

Well-written Novels are worth reading because they are able to establish some kind of connection to its readers. Over the summer, I had the good fortune of reading Catch-22 by Joseph Heller for my AP English Literature class, where I experienced a connection unlike any other novel. Catch-22 is the story of Yossarian, who drives himself to the brink of insanity, because he is the only one that sees that everywhere, people he doesn't even know are trying to kill him. When I was a young boy, I met a swami of the Buddhist religion through my grandparents, who did me the honor of reading my “soul” or personality, if you will. What he found is that I have a very “old soul” which gifted me with the uncanny ability to be “wise beyond my years” through the course of my very existence. Luckily, this comes with an ability to be very humble in all situations, instead of a thought that I am some kind of elite. But what I've learned in my very short seventeen years of life is that, I seem to look at things from a different perspective than my peers. Often, it is almost like I know something that they don’t know which is a dead-end if one intends to maintain a level head of human existence. This can only end in a habitual feeling of solitude or desolation, as if one is alone against the world. This never had any kind of effect in ventures or even personality, I did not realize that this was a reality in full until I read Catch-22; it is unexplainable in fact, reading the frustration that Yossarian endured in trying to convince people of something that seems so obvious and see those people simply defer and call him insane, sparked a certain realization in my own experiences. Although unexplainable, it also created a new sense of confidence, even if it is misjudged, in riding through life as I see it. This is clear evidence that a novel can enlighten us in ways that we could never imagine, even change a portion of a person’s outlook on life.