PIPES benjamin walton Etgar Keret assignment

Pipes
Etgar Keret
This chapter is about a boy who sees the world different from us and suffers from us ostracizing him from society. We begin the story with him in his counselor's office. The counselor runs an exercise where he puts a bunch of cards in front of him and ask him whats wrong. The boy can not tell right from wrong. The counselor points out that the person in the picture has no ears. The boy doesnt see whats wrong instead he sees another boy who just wants to fit into society like the rest of us. Years progress and he begins a job of building pipes and rolling marbles down them. One day he comes upon a pipe that acts as a black hole where no marbles come out the other side. Intrigued and wanting to escape humanity he tries to build a pipe big enough for him to go into. The day comes when such a pipe is made. He goes deeper and deeper until he sees the light of heaven. He talks with the angels and they tell him heaven isn't for people who only do good deeds, instead its a place to come to when your life doesn't treat you well. G-d wants life to be great and people who dont get the best experience get to try again in the hope that it will be better.

I think this is a beautiful story because it shows how as humans live to love each other and ourselves and only by that can we find true happiness. Life isn't about progress and how far we go. Millions of years can equal a single minute because of how meaningful it is. A first kiss, A baby breathing its first breath, An act of hard work paying off in the end, It's things that make you happy that define your meaning of life. Meaning of life is only defined by the person themselves. Next time you ask ”why does anything ever matter?” It doesn't. Unless you mean it to.