From Sand and Ash

by Amy Harmon

A rejected infant will often die, even if its basic needs are met. A rejected child will spend his whole life trying to please everyone else, and never please himself. A rejected woman will often cheat, just to feel desirable. A rejected man will rarely try again, no matter how lonely he is. A rejected people will convince themselves they deserve it, if only to make sense of a senseless world.

We are all products of the places we are raised, the people who love us or have power over us, and the things we hear, over and over again, as we grow.