He tapped my chest. 'Happy is here.' He tapped his own chest. 'Here.'I looked down past my chin. 'Inside?''Inside.'It was getting crowded in there. First angel. Now happy. It seemed there was more to me than cabbage and turnips.

Jerry Spinelli
About This Quote

The story of the cabbage and the turnip is a metaphor for the soul. The angel taps the chest of the man, representing his soul. When he does this, he says, “Happy is here.” Following this, he taps his own chest, saying “Here.” He then looks down at the man’s body and sees that there is more to him than just his body. He then taps the man’s head, saying “Inside?” Finally, as if there were no other way to explain it, he taps the man on the head again.

He says, “Inside.” At this point all three of these references are pointing to one thing: the soul of the man. The first tap points to where it is located. The second tap points to where it should be found.

The third tap points to where it will be found when you let it go and leave it alone.

Source: Milkweed

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