Plenty of people who survive tragedies end up ambivalent about danger--frightened by it, yet strangely drawn to it.

Plenty of people who survive tragedies end up ambivalent about danger--frightened by it, yet strangely drawn to it.

But that's the hardest part of healing.' What?' Realizing there's no one to hate.

What about my rights? What about a person's privacy? Did all that just go to hell after 9/11?

My throat tightened, but I held back the tears and reminded myself that withdrawing from a woman is no different than kicking a drug; you feel shaky and you want it, but eventually the need passes, and you feel restored.

We are, all of us, crippled and twisted. Most of us strive desperately to keep our grotesqueries out of sight and mind. Our suffering is transformed by an alchemy of the soul into addiction, ulcers, strokes, hatred, even war.

...Some people hurt so much they can't take what they need, even when someone wants to give it to them. (106)