Enemy Quotes

“That they had seen it, and not tried to stop it, made me wonder if they too thought I deserved to be treated that way. Long after they had gone I felt their eyes on me as hot as a brand, burning the shame of exposure deep into my skin.”
― Ruth Clare, Enemy: A True Story of Courage, Childhood Trauma and the Cost of War

“I closed my eyes and wished the way I felt in that moment, lucky and loved, could last forever.”
― Ruth Clare, Enemy: A True Story of Courage, Childhood Trauma and the Cost of War

“In normal families love flows from parents to their kids. But that’s not how it felt in my family. As kids we were the ones who did the loving. Swallowing our needs came at a psychological cost. The river is not meant to flow up the mountain.”
― Ruth Clare, Enemy: A True Story of Courage, Childhood Trauma and the Cost of War

“I had never been to war, but I knew what it was like to be prepared to face the enemy every day.
The difference was, my enemy wasn’t a faceless stranger. My enemy was someone I loved.”
― Ruth Clare, Enemy: A True Story of Courage, Childhood Trauma and the Cost of War

“With every door closed to them, Vietnam veterans shut up, swallowing the shame of a nation. They attempted to slot back into their old lives the way society expected, but they weren’t the same men, and the holes they had left behind didn’t fit them any more.”
― Ruth Clare, Enemy: A True Story of Courage, Childhood Trauma and the Cost of War

“Every good trait has its shadow side.”
― Ruth Clare, Enemy: A True Story of Courage, Childhood Trauma and the Cost of War

“People could see whatever they wanted to see on the outside, but if they scratched the surface they would find I too pulsed with dangerous power. This was my secret. This was my weapon. This was what would get me through.”
― Ruth Clare, Enemy: A True Story of Courage, Childhood Trauma and the Cost of War

“I felt my throat ache and knew it was her sadness I swallowed down”
― Ruth Clare, Enemy: A True Story of Courage, Childhood Trauma and the Cost of War

“He drained her of self worth: death by a thousand cuts. Snide little comments, rolling eyes and always that tone in his voice, the one that told her how worthless she was.”
― Ruth Clare, Enemy: A True Story of Courage, Childhood Trauma and the Cost of War

“It felt like someone had waved a magic wand over my life, wiping out the mother I had known
before. I wasn’t sure which one was the dream – the person she had been when Dad was living
with us, or the one she was now.”
― Ruth Clare, Enemy: A True Story of Courage, Childhood Trauma and the Cost of War

“Though I was sure she’d never noticed it, I had spent my whole life doing what I could to protect her. I didn’t know if she could survive without me. I didn’t know who I would be if she no longer needed me to stand guard.”
― Ruth Clare, Enemy: A True Story of Courage, Childhood Trauma and the Cost of War

“If all the bruises and pain Dad had marked me with over the years formed a permanent stain,
people like Moustache Man might shut the hell up about what a great father I had.”
― Ruth Clare, Enemy: A True Story of Courage, Childhood Trauma and the Cost of War

“Sometimes I wished I could just hate Dad. But mostly it felt easier to believe I hated him rather
than face up to the fact that, despite everything, I had spent my life loving him, longing for him,
while he had barely even noticed I was alive.”
― Ruth Clare, Enemy: A True Story of Courage, Childhood Trauma and the Cost of War

“He seemed oblivious to the heat, though the back of his yellow t-shirt was darkened with sweat. This was how he wanted us to be. No mistakes. No fumbles. No feeling.”
― Ruth Clare, Enemy: A True Story of Courage, Childhood Trauma and the Cost of War

“Always in the back of my mind a question burned. Was this it? Was this the moment I handed down the legacy and scarred them for life?”
― Ruth Clare, Enemy: A True Story of Courage, Childhood Trauma and the Cost of War

“My dad’s conflict had not ended when he left the battlefield. It continued on forever inside him, sending shockwaves into the hearts and souls of his family.”
― Ruth Clare, Enemy: A True Story of Courage, Childhood Trauma and the Cost of War