I was a sophomore in high school when I first watched The Perks of being a Wallflower. I immediately fell in love with the main character, Charlie, and his story. I watched it over and over and I read the book time and time again, but I couldn’t put my finger on exactly why the story meant so much to me. At some point during my junior year, I began to see a therapist and while working through my trauma I found that my story was extremely similar to Charlie’s. Charlie and I were both molested through our childhood by a family member we believed we could trust. Charlie and I both struggled to make friends through high school. We struggled with depression, and the constant questioning of “why, why, why”. We have our own troubles at home, the soft but ever present tension between parents or the difficulty of expressing love to family. The story begins with Charlie starting his freshman year of high school. His best friend recently committed suicide. Charlie goes into high school not knowing many people and trying to adjust to the courses. He becomes close with his English teacher, Bill Anderson, who gives him books to read that teach Charlie lessons. (Yet another parallel to my life- My junior year of high school I became extremely close to my history and AP psychology teacher, Ms. Anderson). Charlie does eventually make friends; Sam, Patrick, Mary Elizabeth, Bob, and others. He struggles with his romantic relationships because of the trauma he faced as a child, something that I relate to as well. Charlie’s friend, Sam, was also sexually abused. The story brings awareness to how common sexual assault really is, and it shows the different ways people may cope with it. Sam chooses to not talk about it, and she often throws herself into relationships she knows are not good for her. Charlie blocked out his trauma, however it still has an affect over his everyday life. As the story continues, Charlie faces many ups and downs, but he eventually comes to the conclusion that while his assault was horrible, it was important. It made him who he is. It made things difficult for him, but persevering through it all made him stronger. He recognized that being angry at his aunt would do him no good. He accepted what happened to him, and he forgave those around him. Charlie’s acceptance and forgiveness set me on my own path of doing the same. The Perks of Being a Wallflower is an important movie to me because Charlie’s story gave me something I didn’t realize I needed. It gave me an “us” and a “we”. Our stories are so similar, and I didn’t feel so alone after watching the movie, because I wasn’t alone. Sam and Charlie are just like me. I am just like Sam and Charlie. But I also learned that our trauma doesn’t define who we are. It’s a small portion of the people we are today. Charlie is so much more than just his trauma, he is a boy who loves music and cares deeply about the people he loves. Sam is so much more than her trauma, she is strong and she is happy. I am so much more than my trauma, I am a girl who loves to draw and who has a future.