Siddhartha: the Surprisingly Good Required Book

         Siddhartha, the story of a knowledge-seeking boy to a wealthy man to an enlightened elder, was surprisingly good. Maybe not in the this-was-the-best-book-I've-ever-read-in-my-life way, but definitely one where I'd maybe remember its content in a few months time, because let's face it: most of the required readings in high school are forgotten a week after their completion. Honestly though, Siddhartha did its job, because there were definitely parts of the story where I was left flabbergasted, and as I've learned from my English teacher, "Any book that makes you feel is a good one".

        After completing the novel, I'm strangely still kinda thinking about it. I mean, when you think about it in the grand scheme of things, what Siddhartha went through was all sorts of crazy: he left his stable home life to learn more, gets rich just because he was really only in the right place at the right time surrounded by the right people, pulls his dream girl, falls in and out of bad habits that probably could've impacted his life for the worst to learn more about himself, leaves his wealthy lifestyle for the forest, meets a boatman and gets free housing, reunites with his love, sees her die, randomly find out he has a son, cares for him even in his grief, lets him go even when he didn't want to and eventually reaches nirvana. (This may be over-simplified, but whatever.) All I know is, if I met him in real life on a train or something, I'd listen to his story out of pure curiosity of how in the hell he did that. I mean, his self-restraint is actually impeccable.

        It really does take a special kind of self-confidence (maybe even borderline narcissism) to never doubt the circumstance at which life takes you to. Siddhartha really went with the flow and trusted himself to be doing what was needed to be done for himself ALL THE TIME. But relating it back to my point, Siddhartha leaving the comfort of the material world to enter a spiritual one is crazy cool considering he just up and leaves everything he's worked hard for for an outcome that isn't even set. When I'm comparing myself to him, I don't even think I could do it for a multitude of reasons, like one, my parents would never let me leave (bless their over-protective souls), but also just because I've come to realize that all of the worldly possessions I have really coddle me in a way that makes things like Siddhartha's journey mind-boggling, when really, what he did wasn't completely special, because just like him, thousands of other men and women did the same thing, which he mentions in the story. 

   
    I guess what I'm trying to say is this book kind of put into perspective how truly privileged I am? (Yes, that wasn't the main point but that's what I personally got from it.) Like, when Siddhartha gets a job because he's literate and that's rare, and then I'm over here thinking that I wish I never have to go to school when so many others my age wish for that. Or when he'd mention how he'd be trekking the forest for hours and then I'd remember my family's car and how even though having one is normalized in a lot of places (especially suburban), they're a luxury that a lot of people can't afford. Or when he mentions loans and interest and then I'd think about my sisters (one of which getting her masters and the other getting her J.D in her third year of law school) and how they have no loans because my parents refused to let them face the financial trap they truly are but so many others have to turn to them because they can't afford otherwise. 

        Anyway, I guess this was just a reflection of some sorts that somehow stemmed from a book introducing Buddhism to me, which is kind of random. But now that I think about it, usually things that make me change my perspective on a lot of things are things that shouldn't even have that impact on me. But, what better things to reflect on than those that don't intend to do so?