Shawty Badd > Shawty's Quotes

“It strikes me that I cannot claim this country’s serene coves and sun-soaked beaches without also claiming its poverty, its problems, its history. To say that any aspect of it is part of me is to say that all of it is part of me.”
― Randy Ribay, Patron Saints of Nothing

“It's a sad thing when you map the borders of a friendship and find it's a narrower country than expected.”
― Randy Ribay, Patron Saints of Nothing

“I expected the truth to illuminate, to resurrect. Not to ruin.”
― Randy Ribay, Patron Saints of Nothing

“It’s easy to romanticize a place when it’s far away,” he goes on, making this officially the most I’ve heard him speak at once in a long time. “Filipino Americans have a tendency to do that. Even me. Sometimes I miss it so much. The beaches. The water. The rice paddies. The carabao. The food. Most of all, my family.” He closes his eyes, and I wonder if he’s imagining himself there right now. After a few moments, he opens them again, but he stares at his hands. “But as many good things as there are, there are many bad things, things not so easy to see from far away. When you are close, though, they are sometimes all you see.”
― Randy Ribay, Patron Saints of Nothing

“People are sick sand starving to death in our country, in our streets, and nobody cares. They worry instead about grades and popularity and money and trying to go to America. I don't want to be another one of those people who just pretends like they don't know about the suffering, like they don't see it every single day, like they don't walk past it on their way to school or work.”
― Randy Ribay, Patron Saints of Nothing

“Fuck those people who say being born somewhere doesn’t count if you didn’t grow up there or because half your ancestors are from somewhere else. Fuck anyone who tries to tell you who you are and where you belong.”
― Randy Ribay, Patron Saints of Nothing

“No matter the source, most follow the same flow: They describe the drug and corruption problems, Duterte’s solution, and the mounting body count. Few include the victims’ full names. Most suggest that these killings are crimes against humanity, including a note about the international community’s condemnation—but inaction.”
― Randy Ribay, Patron Saints of Nothing

“It’s easy to romanticize a place when it’s far away. Filipino Americans have a tendency to do that. Even me. Sometimes I miss it so much. The beaches. The water. The rice paddies. The carabao. The food. Most of all, my family.”
― Randy Ribay, Patron Saints of Nothing

“I will try not to judge because I have no idea what you were struggling with in your heart, what complicated your soul. None of us are just one thing, I guess.”
― Randy Ribay, Patron Saints of Nothing

“When you grow up in a country like the United States, you’re constantly told it’s the greatest place in the world. But then you go somewhere else one day and find out that bathroom doors like this exist, and you start to question everything.”
― Randy Ribay, Patron Saints of Nothing

“I thought of the sermon we had just heard at Mass that morning. It was about the Good Samaritan. You know the one? I think everyone does. Or, at least, everyone has heard it. Every time I do, I think, surely, if I were in that situation I would be like the Samaritan and help the man in need. But how many times have I instead walked past?”
― Randy Ribay, Patron Saints of Nothing

“Maybe he was reaching out to me through those words, and I let him slip away. I stayed silent. If I had written to him more often, been more honest, would it have helped him work through some of his problems so he wouldn’t have run away from home? Maybe if I tried to find him, I would have. Maybe he wouldn’t have become an addict if someone were there for him.

Maybe he wouldn’t have been killed in the street by the police, his death tallied as an improvement to society.”
― Randy Ribay, Patron Saints of Nothing

“tell the truth.” “Even if the truth does nothing but cause the family anguish?” “They deserve to know.” “Or do they deserve peace?”
― Randy Ribay, Patron Saints of Nothing

“How do you mourn someone you already let slip away? Are you even allowed to?”
― Randy Ribay, Patron Saints of Nothing

“It was like he used all his compassion on strangers and ran out by the time he came home.”
― Randy Ribay, Patron Saints of Nothing

“What if I don’t have a clue what I want to do?” I ask.
“It takes time, I think. Follow your interests. Develop your strengths. Stay open to trying new things.” She hesitates, then adds, “Maybe you haven’t developed a passion yet because you’ve spent your entire life doing what others wanted you to do.”
― Randy Ribay, Patron Saints of Nothing