Favourite paragraphs from the book
My dad is pleased to define me with an arbitrary letter based on statistical averages, but I think labeling someone's intelligence with a letter grade isn't a sign of their ability. Earning an A in digital school is more than being smart. It means being obedient. Doing what you're told. Selling out to the system. I show up to class and follow the leader. I earn an A for regurgitating other people's thoughts, not by forming my own. - Pg 59
But being compliant doesn't suit me for very long - it's like an outfit that I grow out of so fast, I never feel comfortable living inside of it. Justin's helping me understand why I rebelled against DS when I was younger. It's limiting people. We'll never realize our potential if we always live inside the boundaries of what we fear. Teaching society to be afraid and stay tucked safely behind their locked doors is not the answer to human problems. It only conceals the problem, like a bandage. It doesn't fix it. Giving the problem open air and room to breathe, to mix with other elements, is what helps it heal. - pp 59
My father's ideas are becoming my gauge for what not to do. How not to live. What he believes, I suspect. Whatever rule he applies, I quietly write on the top of my list to fight. That is our relationship. Ironically, he inspires me more than anyone because he shows me what I don't want and sometimes that's the only way to discover the things you do want. - pp 60
I flopped down on my bed and stared at the ceiling, counting all the things I wished I could change about my life. But I'm learning it's human nature to want the things you can't have. What changes is how you go about pursuing the things you want. When you're a little kid and you're told no, you scream and throw a temper tantrum. But you're smarter and you're sneakier this time round. So you nod and act like you care when they say no, when they tell you who you can be friends with, when they say they know what's best. But then you go behind their backs and do it anyway. Because at some point, you need to start calling the shots. At some point, you have to start believing you know what's best. - pp 124
MustangV-8: Because that's the point, nothing is ever permanent. We're just being brainwashed to think there isn't more out there. Here's the truth: your situation is never permanent. It's what you make it. Life isn't solid, it's fluid. It changes. You say we're stuck but that's a hopeless way to look at it. It's like saying we should give up.
BaleyF: Most people prefer to be guided. It saves a lot of energy to follow a path than carve out your own.
MustangV-8: That's what we need to fight. Life should be a risk. It's more than a straight line that you can see clearly from one point to the other. It dips and curves and you never know what's around the bend sometimes until you get there. That scares a lot of people. But that's the beauty of it.
BaleyF: I know, but everything is disoriented right now. It's like I'm seeing everything with new eyes, there's too much to take in all at once. You need to give me some time to adjust.
MustangV-8: Yeah. But sometimes the more disoriented you are, the more clearly you start to see.
- pp 140 - 141
