No Happy Endings

by Nora McInerny Purmort

we were all sold and all bought the same lie, that the best thing our bodies could do was to conform, and be as good and as small as possible.

I didn’t have to think about much, because everything was provided for me. None of this was proof of God. It was proof of . . . my parents’ luck and my own privilege.

A lot of us came of age believing that feminism was useless and outdated, and probably most importantly, the kind of thing that guys wouldn’t like. We knew, from a very young age, that one of our roles is to keep everyone comfortable, always at the expense of our own comfort.

there is greatness and goodness in all of us.

greatness and goodness are two things they are meant to uncover in themselves and find in other people.

And does not deny the past, or the pain. And makes room for it, in a way that but does not. And allows for the future, too.