You Make Choices That Are

For My Entire Life I Longed For Love. I Knew It Was Not Right For Me — As A Girl And Later As A Woman — To Want Or Expect It, But I Did, And This Unjustified Desire Has Been At The Root Of Every Problem I Have Experienced In My Life.

People Say You Need To Be Strong, Smart, And Lucky To Survive Hard Times, War, A Natural Disaster, Or Physical Torture. But I Say Emotional Abuse—anxiety, Fear, Guilt, And Degradation—is Far Worse And Much Harder To Survive.

If It Is Perfectly Acceptable For A Widow To Disfigure Herself Or Commit Suicide To Save Face For Her Husband's Family, Why Should A Mother Not Be Moved To Extreme Action By The Loss Of A Child Or Children? We Are Their Caretakers. We Love Them. We Nurse Them When They Are Sick. . . But No Woman Should Live Longer Than Her Children. It Is Against The Law Of Nature. If She Does, Why Wouldn't She Wish To Leap From A Cliff, Hang From A Branch, Or Swallow Lye?

I Would Rather Be Married To Broken Jade Than Flawless Clay

I Wonder If There Was Anything I Would Have Done Differently. I Hope I Would Have Done Everything Differently, Except I Know Everything Would Have Turned Out The Same. That's The Meaning Of Fate.