I'll Tell You The Secret. When You

My Life Has Been Saved Over And Over Again By Picking Up A Book In Which Someone Captured The Whole Experience Of Being Despised And Not Dying.

Babies Change Things, Open Doors You Thought Were Shut, Close Others. Make You Into Something You Never Been.

People Don't Do Right Because Of The Fear Of God Or Love Of Him. You Do Right Because The World Doesn't Make Sense If You Don't.

If I Could Have Found What I Needed At Thirteen, I Would Not Have Lost So Much Of My Life Chasing Vindication Or Death. Give Some Child, Some Thirteen-year Old, The Hope Of The Remade Life. Tell The Truth. Write The Story That You Were Always Afraid To Tell. I Swear To You There Is Magic In It.

For Years And Years, I Convinced Myself That I Was Unbreakable, An Animal With An Animal Strength Or Something Not Human At All. Me, I Told People, I Take Damage Like A Wall, A Brick Wall That Never Falls Down, Never Feels Anything, Never Flinches Or Remembers. I Am One Woman But I Carry In My Body All The Stories I Have Ever Been Told, Women I Have Known, Women Who Have Taken Damage Until They Tell Themselves They Can Feel No Pain At All.