Maame

by Jessica George

I just like the idea of people being happy because I know how great it is to feel happy, if that makes any sense.”

I didn’t love him, but it hurts knowing I got a different man than the one his actual girlfriend did. She got the better version of him; he gave her the better version of him. I don’t see why I’m good but not good enough,”

“I think when working in white spaces we can feel programmed to not rock the boat; like, we got a foot in the door and we should try to keep that door closed behind us. Which means you begin assigning any and all problematic issues to just being a part of the job. If someone’s not treating you right, you should say so. The milk jug might be difficult to explain—understanding why that shouldn’t have happened requires nuance—but the use of your creative ideas whilst excluding you is an issue that needs to be dealt with. Again, easier said than done, but so worth it in the long run.”

“You don’t deserve to have other people’s comments and actions eat away at you five days a week, fifty-two weeks a year.

‘Regardless of how you behave, a lot of things are going to be out of your control because this world was made to test you. Protect your peace in whatever and every way that you can.”’

We do more and we do better.” I lift my chin.

Well, if we look at Dante’s Inferno, the ninth circle of Hell is reserved for women who betray other women.

I forget that people don’t just affect me, but that I affect others—that I even can affect others. I assume people meet me, I leave, and their world carries on like it did before I arrived.

“Do you often feel guilty for things that aren’t actually your fault?”

“I know it sounds it. But you’re not supposed to ‘get over’ someone dying,” he says, “especially someone you loved, and your feelings of guilt may not be justified, but they are natural. Thing is, you don’t ever go back, Maddie, to life before, and my advice is to accept that. To accept that you’re not the same person you were when your dad was alive and you can’t be again. Accept that your life is different now because of this monumental, irreversible change and that it’s okay to feel guilty one day and indescribable happiness another. This is life now,” he says. “This is how you live.”

“It’s funny what you don’t hear when you should have been listening.

Having lost someone doesn’t mean you understand what it’s like when someone else grieves.”