It Wasn't Roaring, It Was Weeping: Interpreting the Language of Our Fathers Without Repeating Their Stories

by Lisa-Jo Baker

the person who gets to tell a story publicly sets the story in cement.

Reading was an act of intentionality for her; books were a map that helped human beings orient themselves in the world.

We are all tourists in someone else’s history.

We don’t travel different paths from our parents unless we take new routes.

But there will also be moments of clarity when we refuse to keep consuming the same narratives as our parents.

even glimpses of grace can rewrite whole sections of a life.

To forgive is not to forget. South Africa bears witness to this truth. To forgive is to see and to know the truth.

Asking for forgiveness helps us rediscover our own humanity. This is grace—the giving or receiving of what is not deserved.

It’s never too late to crawl out of skins we’ve been wearing that are split and don’t fit anymore.

protect ourselves, we make bargains with our rage and pain, our self-righteousness and our righteous indignation, releasing them anytime we feel threatened.