The world is not a wish-granting factory.

“Apparently, the world is not a wish-granting factory.” 

        The two cancer kids, Hazel and Augustus, were obsessed with a novel called An Imperial Affliction. In this novel, it ended abruptly without a specific ending, making Hazel and Augustus desperate to know what happened afterward. With plenty of tempts to contact the author, Augustus finally reached him through his assistance, and received the invitation from the author himself, telling them if they came to Amsterdam, welcome to visit him in person and he would answer all their questions concerning the novel. They were thrilled about the response from their respected author. Furthermore, fortunately, they were able to go to the Netherlands because Augustus made a wish to The Genie Foundation, which was in the business of granting sick kids one wish. Hence, they came to the author’s house with so much expectation and curiosity, imagining all the confusions would be figured out at this day, but it turned out that the author was an impolite alcoholic who ruined their hopes.

 

         Sometimes you realize the thing keeping you going might be a lie the whole time…it’s like the whole world collapses. However, is it others’ fault to let you down? Well, in some way, I don’t think so. Take Tess of the d'Urbervilles for instance. On knowing that Tess was not “pure,” Angel felt disgusted and thought the woman in front of him was another woman in her shape. In Angel’s imagination, Tess used to be a beautiful and flawless goddess. The reason why Angel felt disappointed and depressed was that Tess didn’t meet his expectation. From my perspective, it was Angel that had to take the consequence for placing expectations on others. For another instance, in The End of the F***ing World, a British programme I watched, the main character, Alyssa, finally found her biological father that sent her cards every year as her sanctuary while she was on her gateway. Yet, her father turned out to be a jerk that reported her to the police, and the cards were actually sent by her mother to give her comfort. Likewise, Alyssa shouldn't have relied on someone that she hadn't seen for many years and expected him to act like a responsible father. Her father wasn't wrong for being a jerk or betraying his daughter, but wrong for not letting Alyssa know and thus making her believe he was reliable. Still, Alyssa had to take the consequence on her own. 

        In all cases, they had one thing in common: they lived in a bubble and only believed in what they would like to believe. Hazel and Augustus imagined that the author was a sophisticated gentleman, but the truth is he was a rude alcoholic. Angel thought that Tess was a flawless goddess, but the truth is Tess was not pure based on the standard at that time. Alyssa believed that her father was someone she could depend on under emergency, but the truth is her father was a cold-blooded jerk. To summarize, it was not others’ fault to disappoint you. They were just being themselves. Instead, it was you that hurt yourself for reflecting expectations on others and requiring them to live up to your imagination. Maybe that’s the reason why people say distance produces beauty because the facts are usually cruel, unacceptable, and far from expectations.