Have you seen, Charlie?

He is a typical shy teenage boy who is just starting his high school life. At first glance, he may look very innocent but if you look closely into his eyes there is a deep-seated pain coming from the loss of his best friend who committed suicide and his recurring flashes of visual images of abuse and trauma when he was young.

He has this insatiable desire for reading books and has this talent in writing. He even writes to an imaginary friend maybe as a coping mechanism to the struggle that he is going through. He has this longing for friends whom he can hang out with and who can understand him more closely. Until a group of teens welcomes him and his life's adventure starts to make sense.

I am talking about the character of Charlie in the movie, The Perks of Being a Wall Flower. Honestly, it is one of those movies that has the courage to break the formula of a coming-of-age movie and showcase a depressing character but with a redeeming and positive spirit in the end.

There are many Charlies around us. Those who look totally fine but deep inside there is a ton of burden. They may look frail but they are struggling just to get the strength needed to get by. It only takes the miracle of friendship just to keep the spirit going and eventually finds more colour in this existence we call life.

Let us look for Charlie and extend our friendship to him.