Broken.

30 August 06 | 7 comments

“…I felt sad, because I realized that once people are broken in certain ways, they can’t ever be fixed, and this is something that nobody ever tells you when you are young and it never fails to surprise you as you grow older as you see people in your life break one by one. You wonder when your turn is going to be, or if it’s already happened.”

The above quote was written by Douglas Coupland in my all-time favourite book, “Life After God”

Many, many, many years ago I had that quote on the opening page of my web site, with “DC” as the attribution. It didn’t occur to me that people would assume the “DC” in question was me, but they did, and now my name is attached to that quote all over the damned internet. As much as I’d like to claim it as mine – because I still think it’s a beautiful paragraph – I keep trying to clear it up. I email people who use it in their sig files and only a few respond to tell me they’ve changed it. It keeps popping up. It’s on memorial pages and personal pages and blogs and, well, everywhere. And my name is attached to it, everywhere.

My copy of the book is dog-eared and mangled and some of the pages are torn. It’s filled with purple highlighter smears. I’ve only loaned it to a few very close friends over the years because of all the highlit passages; I carefully swiped the colour over the words that hit me like a sucker punch to the gut and, as it happened, nearly every page was marked. I first read it after my Mom died, after I attempted suicide, after my life spiraled into a big ugly black hole. I read it when I was a different person than the person I’ve become. To hand it to someone now is to hand them my life at that point in time.

There is no other book in my vast collection that has that power. There is no other book to which I have attached my emotions so strongly. If you happen across it, please pick it up and read it and know that it is the one book – the one single book – that got me through the worst parts of my life.

7 comments

Jo on 30 August 06 at 11:32 pm

Man, that is FREAKATRON!

I googled a line from that quote and the word “Dana” and got 70 hits.

Well, there are worse things in life than having a cool and moving quote attributed to you. ;)
Dana on 30 August 06 at 11:34 pm

I KNOW! I ‘said’ it back in 1994 on my web site – and, in true testament to the beautiful power of the internet – I just keep on ‘saying’ it.

I’m fakey famous!
coffee on 31 August 06 at 8:58 am

Doggles. I really liked doggles. However at this point, I can’t remember how it ends. Probably because I read the first half twice, but only finished it once.

You’ve read a few of my highlit/underlined books, it’s odd comparing the things you highlight versus what I did.
NKBurlington on 31 August 06 at 8:58 am

I always love book recommendations. I shall pick this one up.

Any book that touches people’s lives is something I want to share.
Parasol on 31 August 06 at 9:29 am

One of my favourite books of all time too…. I’m going to revisit it now – I’ll put it in my lineup. It will come after No God but God which I’m reading next. What can I say – I love books with God in the title. Evidently.
Melle on 31 August 06 at 9:30 am

I still remember the first time I read that passage. Long before I met you, even.

And I am SO mailing The Doug and telling him you’re a big stealer. ;)
Dana on 31 August 06 at 9:44 am

Please tell The Doug to come over here and confront me in person. Twenty-two seconds in my drooling, incoherent-babbling, presence and he’ll forget the entire issue and start backing down my driveway (with me attached to his ankle shouting, “DOUG! DOUGIE! DOUG DOUG!”) :)