--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: When I've thought about him dying - which…" description: "\"“When I've thought about him dying - which admittedly isn't that much - I always thought of it like you said, that all strings inside him broke. But th..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/894/john-green-12_interconnectedness_when-i-ve-thought-about-him-dying-which_967850.jpg" --- # When I've thought about him dying - which admittedly isn't… ![“When I've thought about him dying - which admittedly isn't that much - I always thought of it like you said, that all strings inside him broke. But there are a thousand ways to look at it: maybe the strings break, or maybe our ships think, or maybe we're grass - our roots are so interdependent…” quote by John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/894/john-green-12_interconnectedness_when-i-ve-thought-about-him-dying-which_967850.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/894/john-green-12_interconnectedness_when-i-ve-thought-about-him-dying-which_967850.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/894/john-green-12_interconnectedness_when-i-ve-thought-about-him-dying-which_967850.jpg) > ““When I've thought about him dying - which admittedly isn't that much - I always thought of it like you said, that all strings inside him broke. But there are a thousand ways to look at it: maybe the strings break, or maybe our ships think, or maybe we're grass - our roots are so interdependent that no one is dead as long as soneone is still alive. We don't suffer from a shortage of metaphors, is what I mean. But you have to be careful which metaphor you choose, because it matters. If you choose the strings, then you're imagining a world in which you can become irreparably broken. If you choose grass, you're saying that we are all infinitely interconnected, that we can use these root systems not only to understand one another but to become one another. The metaphors have implications... I like the strings, I always have. Because that's how it feels. But the strings make pain seem more fatal than it is...We are not as frail as the strings would make us believe. And I like the grass, too. The grass got me to you, helped me imagine you as an actual person. But we're not different sprouts from the same plant. I can't be you. You can't be me. You can imagine another well- but not quite perfectly, you know? "Maybe, it's more like you said before, all of us being cracked open. Like each of us starts out as a watertight vessel. And these things happen-these people leave us, or don't love us, or don't get us, or we don't get them, and we lose and fail and hurt one another. And the vessel starts to crack open in places. And I mean, yeah, once the vessel cracks open, the end becomes inevitable...But there is all this time between when the cracks start to open up and when we finally fall apart. And it's only in that time that we can see each other, because we see out of ourselves through our cracks and into others through theirs. When did we see each other face-to-face? Not until you saw into my cracks and I saw into yours. Before that we were just looking at ideas of each other, like looking at your window shade but never looking inside. But once the vessel cracks, the light can get in. The light can get out.”” [John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The metaphor we choose to describe loss shapes how we experience pain and connection; seeing others through our vulnerabilities can foster empathy. **In simple terms:** Metaphors affect how we feel about loss and connection. Key Takeaway Choose metaphors that promote interdependence. Themes loss connection metaphor vulnerability empathy Mood reflective hopeful introspective Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - grief counseling - friendship building - support groups - creative writing - therapy sessions Key Concepts interdependence identity healing perception relationality Questions to Reflect On - How do your personal metaphors influence your coping? - What metaphor helps you feel more connected? A Different Perspective If we focus on isolation metaphors, we may feel more hopeless. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Interconnectedness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/interconnectedness/) [Metaphor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/metaphor/) [Metaphors](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/metaphors/) [Understanding others](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/understanding-others/) ## Related quotes > [But there are a thousand ways to look at it: maybe the strings break, or maybe our ship s sink, or maybe we're grass--our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/but-there-are-a-thousand-ways-to-look-at-it-maybe-the-strings-break/) [John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/) > [We don't suffer from a shortage of metaphors . . . But you have to be careful which metaphor you choose, because it matters.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/we-don-t-suffer-from-a-shortage-of-metaphors-but-you-have-to-be/) [John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/) > [“when I've thought about him dying-which admittedly isn't that much-I always thought of it like you said, that all the strings inside him broke.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/when-i-ve-thought-about-him-dying-which-admittedly-isn-t-that-much-i-2/) [John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/) > [“You have to be careful which metaphor you choose, because it matters. If you choose the strings, then you’re imagining a world in which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/you-have-to-be-careful-which-metaphor-you-choose-because-it-matters/) [John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/) > [“I always thought of it like you said, that all the strings inside him broke. But there are a thousand ways to look at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/i-always-thought-of-it-like-you-said-that-all-the-strings-inside-him/) [John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/) > [“But there are a thousand ways to look at it: maybe the strings break, or maybe our ships sink, or maybe we're grass\_\_our roots…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/but-there-are-a-thousand-ways-to-look-at-it-maybe-the-strings-break-2/) [John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/) > [“But you have to be careful which metaphor you use, because it matters... The metaphors have implications. Do you know what I mean?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/but-you-have-to-be-careful-which-metaphor-you-use-because-it-matters/) [John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/) > [“But you have to be careful which metaphor you choose, because it matters. If you choose the strings, then you’re imagining a world in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/but-you-have-to-be-careful-which-metaphor-you-choose-because-it/) [John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/) > [You've got a lifetime to mull over the Buddhist understanding of interconnectedness." He spoke every sentence as if he'd written it down, memorized it,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/you-ve-got-a-lifetime-to-mull-over-the-buddhist-understanding-of-2/) [John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/) > [“Maybe it’s more like you said before, all of us being cracked open, like, each of us starts out as a watertight vessel, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/maybe-it-s-more-like-you-said-before-all-of-us-being-cracked-open/) [John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/) > [“Like, each of us starts out as a watertight vessel. And these things happen--these people leave us, or don't love us, or don't get…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/like-each-of-us-starts-out-as-a-watertight-vessel-and-these-things-2/) [John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/) > [“Each of us starts out as a watertight vessel. And these things happen—these people leave us, or don't love us, or don't get us,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/each-of-us-starts-out-as-a-watertight-vessel-and-these-things-happen/) [John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/) > [“Like, each of us starts out as a watertight vessel. And these things happen -- these people leave us, or don't love us, or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/like-each-of-us-starts-out-as-a-watertight-vessel-and-these-things/) [John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/) > [If one does not understand a person, one tends to regard him as a fool.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-jung/if-one-does-not-understand-a-person-one-tends-to-regard-him-as-a-fool/) [Carl Jung](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-jung/) > [I don't like that man. I must get to know him better.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-lincoln/i-don-t-like-that-man-i-must-get-to-know-him-better/) [Abraham Lincoln](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-lincoln/) ## More by John Green > [Issac:"I dislike living in a world without Augustus Waters." Computer: "I don't understand-" Issac: "Me neither. Pause](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/issac-i-dislike-living-in-a-world-without-augustus-waters-computer-i/) [John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/) > [“I just want to stay away from people and read books and think”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/i-just-want-to-stay-away-from-people-and-read-books-and-think/) [John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/) > [She smiled with all the delight of a kid on Christmas morning and said, "Y'all smoke to enjoy it. I smoke to die." -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/she-smiled-with-all-the-delight-of-a-kid-on-christmas-morning-and/) [John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/) > [A Margo for each of us--and each more mirror than window.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/a-margo-for-each-of-us-and-each-more-mirror-than-window/) [John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/) > [“No one ever says good-bye unless they want to see you again.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/no-one-ever-says-good-bye-unless-they-want-to-see-you-again/) [John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/) > [Neither novels or their readers benefit from any attempts to divine whether any facts hide inside a story. 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I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/so-i-was-ugly-i-was-never-fat-really-and-i-never-wore-headgear-or-had/) [John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/) > [Nothing has ever looked like that ever in all of human history.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/nothing-has-ever-looked-like-that-ever-in-all-of-human-history/) [John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/) > [“said to him quietly, as if I couldn’t hear or something. Dad was about to respond but I interrupted.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/said-to-him-quietly-as-if-i-couldn-t-hear-or-something-dad-was-about/) [John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/) > [I believe humans have souls, and I believe in the conservation of souls.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/i-believe-humans-have-souls-and-i-believe-in-the-conservation-of-souls/) [John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/) > [“He was hot. A nonhotboy stares at you relentlessly and it is, at best, awkward and, at worst, a form of assault. But a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/he-was-hot-a-nonhotboy-stares-at-you-relentlessly-and-it-is-at-best/) [John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/) > [I think if you keep the box closed long enough you do kill the cat, actually.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/i-think-if-you-keep-the-box-closed-long-enough-you-do-kill-the-cat/) [John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/) > [Imagining the future is a kind of nostalgia. (...) You spend your whole life stuck in the labyrinth, thinking about how you'll escape it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/imagining-the-future-is-a-kind-of-nostalgia-you-spend-your-whole-life/) [John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/) [Explore all 3,614 John Green quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/) ## More Fall apart quotes > [“Dear Delphine, When you are older I want you to find Chinua Achebe. I want you to read Things Fall Apart. Don't be hardheaded…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rita-williams-garcia/dear-delphine-when-you-are-older-i-want-you-to-find-chinua-achebe-i/) [Rita Williams-Garcia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rita-williams-garcia/) > [“As his ears rang and his heart broke for her, he stayed strong against the gale force she let loose. After all, there was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-r-ward/as-his-ears-rang-and-his-heart-broke-for-her-he-stayed-strong-against/) [J.R. Ward](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-r-ward/) > [I've realized that life is indeed full of contradictions. Sometimes its crazy to be sane.You need to fall to fly. People suffer because you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-ve-realized-that-life-is-indeed-full-of-contradictions-sometimes/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“He presses two fingers against each eye and attempts to account for this crippling melancholy, but is having trouble with rational thought. It feels…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-nicholls/he-presses-two-fingers-against-each-eye-and-attempts-to-account-for/) [David Nicholls](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-nicholls/) > [But I am only human and I bleed when I fall down I am only human and I crash and I break down u…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/human/but-i-am-only-human-and-i-bleed-when-i-fall-down-i-am-only-human-and/) Human > [There's always a race against time. I don't think for one moment that life gets better. How can it? One's body starts to fall…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gloria-grahame/there-s-always-a-race-against-time-i-don-t-think-for-one-moment-that/) [Gloria Grahame](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gloria-grahame/) > [The truth will form and fall apart again.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-slean/the-truth-will-form-and-fall-apart-again/) [Sarah Slean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-slean/) > [Creative ideas aren't like Jenga blocks, where they fall apart and you've got to start from scratch, though it can feel that way.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edwin-catmull/creative-ideas-aren-t-like-jenga-blocks-where-they-fall-apart-and-you/) [Edwin Catmull](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edwin-catmull/) > [“Sometimes when we go through transitions, we aren’t aware of the impact they have on us. 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By waiting, we begin to connect with fundamental restlessness as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pema-ch-dr-n/it-s-a-transformative-experience-to-simply-pause-instead-of/) [Pema Chodron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pema-ch-dr-n/) > [I was full of a hot, powerful sadness and would have loved to burst into the comfort of tears, but tried hard not to,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-gilbert/i-was-full-of-a-hot-powerful-sadness-and-would-have-loved-to-burst/) [Elizabeth Gilbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-gilbert/) > [At a certain point, I felt the need to submit to a higher level of religiosity to move away from my intuition and to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matisyahu/at-a-certain-point-i-felt-the-need-to-submit-to-a-higher-level-of/) [Matisyahu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matisyahu/) Browse all 830 Fall apart quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“When I've thought about him dying - which admittedly isn't that much - I always thought of it like you said, that all strings inside him broke. But there are a thousand ways to look at it: maybe the strings break, or maybe our ships think, or maybe we're grass - our roots are so interdependent that no one is dead as long as soneone is still alive. We don't suffer from a shortage of metaphors, is what I mean. But you have to be careful which metaphor you choose, because it matters. If you choose the strings, then you're imagining a world in which you can become irreparably broken. If you choose grass, you're saying that we are all infinitely interconnected, that we can use these root systems not only to understand one another but to become one another. The metaphors have implications... I like the strings, I always have. Because that's how it feels. But the strings make pain seem more fatal than it is...We are not as frail as the strings would make us believe. And I like the grass, too. The grass got me to you, helped me imagine you as an actual person. But we're not different sprouts from the same plant. I can't be you. You can't be me. You can imagine another well- but not quite perfectly, you know? \"Maybe, it's more like you said before, all of us being cracked open. Like each of us starts out as a watertight vessel. And these things happen-these people leave us, or don't love us, or don't get us, or we don't get them, and we lose and fail and hurt one another. And the vessel starts to crack open in places. And I mean, yeah, once the vessel cracks open, the end becomes inevitable...But there is all this time between when the cracks start to open up and when we finally fall apart. And it's only in that time that we can see each other, because we see out of ourselves through our cracks and into others through theirs. When did we see each other face-to-face? Not until you saw into my cracks and I saw into yours. Before that we were just looking at ideas of each other, like looking at your window shade but never looking inside. But once the vessel cracks, the light can get in. The light can get out.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "John Green" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/when-i-ve-thought-about-him-dying-which-admittedly-isn-t-that-much-i-3/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Fall apart" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/when-i-ve-thought-about-him-dying-which-admittedly-isn-t-that-much-i-3/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/894/john-green-12_interconnectedness_when-i-ve-thought-about-him-dying-which_967850.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/894/john-green-12_interconnectedness_when-i-ve-thought-about-him-dying-which_967850.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/894/john-green-12_interconnectedness_when-i-ve-thought-about-him-dying-which_967850.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“When I've thought about him dying - which admittedly isn't that much - I always thought of it like you said…” — John Green", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "John Green", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“When I've thought about him dying...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/when-i-ve-thought-about-him-dying-which-admittedly-isn-t-that-much-i-3/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/when-i-ve-thought-about-him-dying-which-admittedly-isn-t-that-much-i-3/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```