Extraits

« We know what it is like to be alive in the present but dead in the future. But you are the opposite. Your future self is still alive. You have a responsibility to your future self, who is someone you might not even know, might not even understand yet. Because until you die, that future self has as much of a life as you do.

We can see that future self [...]. He is made up not just your present soul, but of all our souls, all our possibilities, all our deaths. He is the opposite of our negation.

You are not worthless [...] Your life is not disposable.

You think there is no point.

You think you will never find a place.

You think your pain is the only emotion you will ever feel. You think nothing else will ever come close to being as strong as that pain.

You are certain of this.

In this minute – in this, the most important minute of your life – you are certain that you must die.

You see no other option.

You need to wake up, we cry.

Listen to us. »

P.228-229

« He looks at him and sees maybe not his future, but definitely his present. »

P.221

« Harry and Craig are friends. They are kissing to show the world that it's okay for two boys to kiss. »

P.100

« We are not talking about sex. We are talking about seeing two boys who love one another kiss one another. That has so much more power than sex. And even as it becomes commonplace, the power is still there. Everytime two boys kiss, it opens up the world a little bit more. Your world. The world we left. The world left for you.

This is the power of a kiss:

It does not have the power to kill you. But it has the power to bring you to life. »

P.75

« This is what the right people can do. They can make you see that better world.»

P.82

« Freedom isn't just about voting and marrying and kissing on the street, although all these things are important. Freedom is also about what you will allow yourself to do. »

P.4

« You have music at your fingertips. Any song you want to hear, there it is.

We marvel at that. The infinite jukebox.

If we want to hear a song we must steal the sound waves that you send into the air. But there are moments that are so palpable, so in sync with a song we once knew, that it plays itself from long-lost cassette player that even our memory doesn't seem to control.

[…]

Go and listen right now - you have it right at your fingertips, for less than a candy bar. The lyrics sound old, but the music is eternal - that joy in discovering that the right person at the right time can open all the windows and unlock all the doors. »

P.147-148

« You can give words, but you can't take them. And when words are given and received, that is when they are shared. We remember what that was like. Words so real they were almost tangible. There are conversations you remember, for certain. But more than that, there is the sensation of conversation. You will remember that, even when the precise words begin to blur. How you gave, how you received. How close you felt to this other person, how remarkable this closeness was. The sharing of words becomes as important as the words themselves. The sensation stays with you, attaches you to the world. »

P.68

« That's who he wants to be - on the dance floor and in life. A butterfly. Colorful and soaring.

There is something about the pureness of butterfly dreams, about all the things that dancing can unlock when you are young. When it works, that freedom doesn't stop when the last song is played. You take it with you. You use it for bigger things.

You notice when its taken away.»

P.17-18

When you know you only have months left, days left, who wants to sleep? Only when the pain is too much. Only when you are desperate for the negation. Otherwise, sleep is time you've lost and are never getting back.

p.18