WHY I’M NOT WHERE YOU ARE 5/21/63

I’d lost “yes”, but I still had “no”, so if someone asked me “Are you Thomas?”, I would answer “Not no”, but then I lost “no”, I went to a tattoo  parlor and had YES written onto the palm of my left hand, and NO onto my right palm, what can I say, it hasn’t made life wonderful, it’s made life possible. When I rub my hands against each other in the middle of winter I am warming myself with the friction of YES and  NO, when I clap my hands I am showing my appreciation through the uniting and parting of YES and NO, I signify “book” by peeling open my clapped hands, every book, for me, is the balance of YES and NO, even this one, my last one, especially this one.

 

Jonathan Safran Foer, Extremely loud and incredibly close