Abbie Day

“But since lack of empathy was an expression that the investigator had also used a few minutes earlier in connection with my way of recounting the facts, I reminded her of what I had said initially, namely that empathy is expressly discouraged and it isn’t hard to understand why. Either you save, or you sympathise.”
― Vincent Delecroix, Small Boat

“There is no shipwreck without spectators. Even when there's no one, when it's far out at sea, at night, without witnesses, even when there's no living soul in sight for thousands of nautical miles, only waves and the viscous night, covering everything, swallowing everything; when there are no more eyes to see than there are arms to reach out, there are still spectators and the shore from which they are watching is never far away, even if, at the same time, it is infinitely distant. Even with their eyes shut, people are still watching, and I can't think of a single one who could say: I wasn't there. From inside their own homes, they are all watching the drama, and the drama is never ending; it plays out every day, every night, on high days and holidays, even when they're doing other things, they're still spectators of the 'drama at sea.”
― Vincent Delecroix, Small Boat

“It might have been an idea to ask this question, in seeking to shed light on the matter, and it might then have become clear that what happened to them was simply, in the end, the outcome of a long process or a long story that had nothing to do with me. I was just the last link in the chain, when it was almost too late.”
― Vincent Delecroix, Small Boat

“Even with their eyes shut, people are still watching, and I can’t think of a single one who could say: I wasn’t there. From inside their own homes, they are all watching the drama, and the drama is never-ending; it plays out every day, every night, on high days and holidays, even when they’re doing other things, they’re still spectators of the ‘drama at sea’. Blind spectators and a spectacle for the blind. They watch, they see nothing; in fact they can’t see anything. The stage is blacked out, and at this distance, from their sofas or in front of their TVs, they can’t make anything out. They see nothing, but are still present at the drama.”
― Vincent Delecroix, Small Boat