Hiding Our Emotions, Expressing Our Inner-Wallflower

          I just finished reading "The Perks of Being A Wallflower" by Stephen Chbosky. In this book, the main character Charlie, thinks a lot. Some people (like his English teacher, Bill) would say too much. Charlie observes a lot of things and takes time to understand and question them. And with all of the problems he's surrounded with, it's not very hard for him to find something to think about. One of the many things he sees is people hiding their emotions, and in turn, he questions it.
          One of Charlie's friends, Patrick, is gay. He had a secret boyfriend named Brad, who hadn't come out of the closet and didn't intend to. Eventually Brad's father caught Patrick and Brad together and started beating Brad. After that, it went without saying that they could no longer be together. For a week or two, Brad stayed out of school. When he came back, "He looked very different. It wasn't that he was bruised or anything. His face actually looked fine. But before, Brad was always this guy who walked down the hallway with a bounce. I can't really describe it any other way. It's just that some people walk with their heads to the ground for some reason. They don't like to look other people in the eye. Brad was never like that. But now he is. Especially when it comes to Patrick." Here Brad is, just coming back to school after his father (and mother?) have probably been abusing him physically and emotionally, and not only that, he's no longer allowed to see the person he loves. And yet, only a few people know what really happened. No one else knows what's going on inside his head, and how terribly he's feeling. If he could only talk to someone about it, the weight he was feeling probably could've eased quite a bit, but he chose to bottle it up inside him, and let it eat at him.
          On the other side of the relationship, Patrick is feeling extremely disheartened as well. Charlie, being a good friend, hangs out with Patrick as much as possible. Patrick starts to show Charlie part of his world. One night, Patrick takes Charlie to a park where "men go to find each other", so Patrick can try and move on and find someone else. While they were there, they see Brad kissing some unnamed man.
          The next day, Charlie sees Brad, expecting him to look different after what he had seen the weekend before. "I saw Brad in detention the Monday after I saw him at the park. And he looked just like he always looks." Even though this such a small excerpt compared to the whole book, it really stood out to me. Charlie had expected Brad to have changed. After Charlie had seen what Brad had been doing, he interpreted what was going on inside Brad's head, and expected it to show. He was surprised to see that Brad looked just like he did every other day. Does this mean that that is how he feels every day? Or does it mean he just hides his emotions?
          I think this is a universal point, and that everyone can relate. Imagine looking into someone else's thoughts; maybe for a day, maybe for an hour, or even just a second. You would probably discover so many things about that person that you had never even thought of, or never expected to be there. Imagine if someone looked inside your head. All of the things you've never told anyone and have wanted to tell, or haven't. All of the feelings you've had that no one even knew you were feeling. It's incredible how much information someone can hold, and how many thoughts can go through someone's head, however happy, sad, angry, or all of the things in between.
          So in that sense, I think we all have a little bit of "wallflower" in us. In the book, Patrick described "wallflower" as, "You see things. You keep quiet about them. And you understand." Every single person in the world has those things that we choose to keep quiet about. We all have thoughts that weigh us down, and naw at us slowly, but for some reason, we choose to keep them to ourselves. So I guess the next question would be, Why?