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?

The classics tell us that, in relationships, the one between teacher and student comes second only to the one between parent and child.

What stays with me most is a general sense of loss, unease, and longing for the past that cannot be relieved.

I am old enough to know only too well my good and bad qualities, which were often one in the same.

How can we not create a fantasy in our minds when the reality is so hard?

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.

I think to really be literate in nu shu you only need about 600 characters because it is phonetic. So you're able to then create many words out of one character.