In any war story, but especially a true one, it's difficult to separate what happened from what seemed to happen. What seems to happen becomes its own happening and has to be told that way. The angles of vision are skewed. When a booby trap explodes, you close your eyes and duck and float outside yourself.. The pictures get jumbled, you tend to miss a lot. And then afterward, when you go to tell about it, there is always that surreal seemingness, which makes the story seem untrue, but which in fact represents the hard and exact truth as it seemed. Tim OBrien
About This Quote

In the story "Love Story" by Erich Segal, main character, Oliver, realizes during his senior year of high school that he is in love with the girl he had a crush on. He doesn't want to tell her his feelings because he thinks she is already in a relationship with someone else. He also thinks that if he tells her, she will reject him. On the day of his graduation, he heads to the high school gymnasium to watch his friend who is competing in track.

While there, he sees the girl who is his love interest and realizes that she is also there. He runs up to her and tells her how he feels about her. After this brief moment of happiness, they are both called up to perform.

Oliver performs well but his friend does not make it through the race. When Oliver's time comes up to compete in the race, he gives it all he has and wins the race by only one second with only seconds left on the clock. He goes on to become an outstanding track star and college football player at Stanford University with little trouble and then ends up playing with the San Francisco 49ers in professional football.

But most people will remember him for his love story with the girl who was not meant for him but for another man.

Source: The Things They Carried

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