A second later, she handed Nara the orange plastic pen, the type of pen Nora used back in school. It was the pen she hadn't seen in a long time.
"You'll need this."
"What for?"
"This life hasn't been written yet. You have to start writing it."
Nora took the pen.
"Goodbye, Grandma Elm."
In "The Midnight Library," Matt Haig tells the story of Nora Seed's life. She is a talented individual, yet her life is filled with suffering and regret. Ultimately, she decides to seek death. In that moment - the moment Nora decides to end her life, at exactly 00:00:00, Nora suddenly finds herself in the Midnight Library and encounters the librarian, Mrs. Elm. Mrs. Elm provides her with the motivation to continue, by allowing Nora to experience the lives she had always dreamed of.
Nora has lived as what she desired, from being a highly admired swimmer with Olympic medals, a well-known rock musician, to simply the moment when she and her brother could reconcile. Nora constantly experiences different lives and departs. But then she realizes that there will be no suitable life for herself if her curiosity is too great and she keeps searching for a meaningful life for herself.
Eventually, when the Midnight Library collapses, Nora is given the pen by Mrs. Elm, the pen she had seen long ago. In that moment, she realizes that Nora's life has not yet been written, and how it will be written is entirely up to Nora herself. That's the real meaningful life Nora has been seeking - a life where she is free to decide and not dependent on anyone else's expectations.
Sometimes we have too many worries about the past, about the perfect life we want, about the version of ourselves that we think is better. But nothing is perfect. Our lives are written by our own hands, that's when they truly have meaning. And good things will come "just by waiting until we realize that ourselves."
Content: Tram Anh
Design: Thanh Hien
For more details, visit: https://www.facebook.com/clb.sachvahanhdong.uit/posts/pfbid02KTALPUFFnd2BFa7GuP4dA7RwD1ebz5sgeCbXeu2VbnRhUriWowHMEiGgREwfDFTBl
Ha Bang - Media Collaborator, University of Information Technology
Nhat Hien - Translation Collaborator, University of Information Technology
