Surviving Savannah

by Patti Callahan Henry

But no one, even if they believe they have, moves past the past. It follows; it shadows; it breathes quietly in the dark corners. Ask me, I know.

The idea that surviving brings everyone to a new and better place is a lie told by people who need the world to make sense.”

“Words like ‘know the ropes’; ‘slush fund’; ‘close quarters’; ‘batten down the hatches’; to be ‘in deep water’; ‘high and dry’—we use these phrases without realizing they come from our long and perilous connection with the sea. They came out of our need to conquer what can never be conquered, only respected and discovered.”

Tragedy—it can come from anywhere at any time. How do we go through life knowing that? How did we ever not know it? And yet we pretend we’re safe. It’s absurd.”

We are our truest selves when life and death walk hand in hand. When crisis comes, and tragedy explodes, our true character comes to the fore.

“You and I both know there’s a difference between prejudice and obliviousness but sometimes it can have the same result.”