words to remember

Or maybe we'll make a home somewhere inside ourselves, to carry with us wherever we go [...]

And I don't want to die anymore. I am up to the challenge of bearing the guilt and the grief, up to facing the difficulties that life has put in my path.

I'm not sure when, or if, anything will ever get better, not sure if these wounds are the kind that can heal.

I don't want freedom. I want sleep. I want this to end.

I feel cold, like I might shiver and then shatter.

I wonder if fears ever really go away, or if they just lose their power over us.

Ich kann nicht schreien, weil ich nicht atme. Die Stille lastet so schwer auf mir [...].

Schlaf [...] Schlaf, und wach nicht auf, bevor es vorbei ist.

Es ist eine Geste der Achtsamkeit, Raum zu geben an einem Ort, an dem Gewalt geherrscht hat, damit diejenigen, die überlebt haben, einen Grund finden zu überstehen.

Ihre Augen waren wie der Wald, ihr Gesicht so voller Stille.

Ich habe genickt. Obwohl ich mir nicht einmal sicher war, ob ich den Tag überstehen würde. Denn irgendwann, zwischen Hochsommerhitze und Herbstblätterabfall, hatten sich nebelige Gedanken in meinem wortüberlagerten Gehirn angesammelt [...].

And while he has done cruel, evil things, our society is not divided into “good” and “bad”. Cruelty does not make a person dishonest, the same way bravery does not make a person kind.

Maybe there's more we all could have done [...] but we just have to let the guilt remind us to do better next time.

I don't cry. I just ache. Grief is not as heavy as guilt, but it takes more away from you.

If this continues I will break apart, and maybe that would be better, maybe it would be better to shatter and bear nothing.

I believe in ordinary acts of bravery, in the courage that drives one person to stand up for another.

Everybody has problems. Some people just hide their crap better than others. But people aren't going to look at you and run away. They're going to look at you and think that they can talk to you, and that you'll understand, and that you're brave, and that you're strong. And you are. You're brave and strong.