A Million Little Pieces #3

A passage stood out to me in the third section of A Million Little Pieces that I found myself to thoroughly disagree with. James Frey was taking a walk in the woods and thought to himself, "When one lives without fear, one cannot be broken. When one lives with fear, one is broken before one begins to live." Although this deep thought can be interpreted in a good way, the negativity behind it stands out to me greater. If one is fearless of everything in the world, they are not fit for survival. Whether or not people like it, there are millions of things in this world that can harm us and precautions need to be taken against those things. For instance James Frey's addiction to drugs. If Frey had been fearful of the consequences that came with trying drugs, Frey may have chosen not to do drugs, saving his life from a horrible addiction. The extent that Frey was addicted to drugs was so extremely high that if Frey had done drugs one more time, he most likely would have died. In my opinion Frey should have feared this happening all throughout the time he was doing drugs. James Frey is basically saying that people should live their lives as if they are invincible. A false perception of invincibility can be severely harmful to ones life and should be avoided at all costs. It is narrow minded to think that being invincible is a good way to live and thinking in that way is just asking to get hurt. 

Another thing that irritated me about James Frey in this section was his extreme disrespect for his parents. His parents came to the rehabilitation center for a "Family Weekend" to progress in the relationships that they have together and Frey's attitude towards them was so negative and disrespectful. Throughout Frey's life, his parents had supported him and tried to do the best they could to give Frey the kind of life they thought he deserved. Frey repaid his parents by getting addicted to alcohol and hard core drugs. When his parents go out of their ways even more for him by visiting Frey in the rehabilitation center, Frey has the audacity to be disrespectful and wish that they were gone. Respecting one's elders is a very important thing to do. Not because of what any religious books say, but respecting your elders shows that you are grateful for everything that they have done for you. 

We will see how the next section goes, but as for now, I do not like the book.