s.m.

“I wondered how the public's consumption of others' pain and suffering cross the line from empathy to voyeurism. How quickly have we, as a society, become numb to the struggles of others, our capacity for compassion eroded by the sheer volume of human drama we're exposed to daily? We were just characters in a soap opera now, except the drama was real, and the consequences permanent. Our grief had been reduced to a mere commodity, packaged and sold, consumed and discarded.”
― Shari Franke, The House of My Mother: A Daughter's Quest for Freedom

“When someone asks you about your future, it is make-believe, science fiction. But when someone asks you about your past, your story becomes a mystery. Having a secret that someone else wants is powerful.”
― Jill Ciment, Consent: A Memoir

“Sometimes, family isn’t just what you’re born into—it’s also what you build in the aftermath of loss.”
― Shari Franke, The House of My Mother: A Daughter's Quest for Freedom

“Realizing your own mother was incapable of truly seeing you—of loving you for who you are rather than as an extension of herself—is a bitter pill to swallow. It’s the death of a fundamental childhood hope, the one where if you just try hard enough, Mommy will love you unconditionally. But in a strange way, this understanding has also been incredibly liberating. I now know that I could never have been “good” enough or “perfect” enough to make Ruby truly happy or proud. The insatiable void I was trying to fill wasn’t created by me, and it wasn’t mine to fix. That realization, as painful as it is, is the first step on the path to healing—for me, if not for her.”
― Shari Franke, The House of My Mother: A Daughter's Quest for Freedom