Alligator Candy Quotes

“Death leaves trails of mutes.”
― David Kushner, Alligator Candy: A Memoir

“You will get thru it because you have no choice, really . . . it just happens . . . no matter what you may feel now. There’s something built-in that enables most human beings . . . not all, to be sure . . . but most, to get thru this . . . like feeling very tense and tight and getting into a hot tub and finding there is no way not to be relaxed in the hot water because the water does wonderful physiological stuff to you and emotionally too that you cannot avoid. It is built-in to enable us to get thru, to enable us, force us, to survive, to stay alive. The question then becomes, after you’ve understood that it will be different, less raw, that the death can not be undone, that you will continue to live and that you will return, a different person, to the life other people define as “normal”: “What shall I do with the rest of my life?” 1. the situation is real and will remain so. 2. there’s nothing you can do about it, nothing at all. 3. now what happens to you? 4. who do you want to be? As”
― David Kushner, Alligator Candy

“Kids grow up hearing fairy tales, but the biggest fairy tale of all, I realized at the age of four, is that life is safe. Life isn't safe, I learned. It's crazy. Evil is real. One minute you could be riding your bike on the way to get candy, and the next, you're dead. Anything could happen anywhere at any time. So now what? How was I supposed to live without giving in to the fear?”
― David Kushner, Alligator Candy: A Memoir

“This was a memorial service, a service about remembering. “We consecrate this hour the memory of our departed” . . . “We recall” . . . “We remember” . . . “May their memories endure among us as a lasting benediction” . . . “In tribute to their memory, I pledge to perform acts of charity and goodness.” The name of this service in Hebrew was Yizkor—it meant “remember.” Remembering was divine. We were”
― David Kushner, Alligator Candy

“suffering could make a person “splendid”—more able to appreciate the range of human existence and emotions.”
― David Kushner, Alligator Candy

“now. The last free generation of kids had let their fears take away their kids’ freedom. As”
― David Kushner, Alligator Candy