Nancy Hasenfang

“like me, to be alive is to be overly aware, with no filters, no defense, like it’s always raining acid and you have no skin. The question then becomes how much awareness can you take?” “Georgia said it was usually about feelings of anger, shame, and guilt.” “All of the above,” he said. “Things I’ve done in the past haunt me. That’s the thing about the past; it won’t ever leave you the hell alone. It’s noisiest at about three in the morning when I can’t sleep for agonizing over the shitty things I’ve done. In theory, I can atone for my bad behavior, as long as my victims are still alive. Unfortunately, I feel the most guilty about things I didn’t do when I had the chance, for people who are now gone. And that’s just guilt; we’ve still got anger and shame to deal with.” “I guess I never thought about the difference between shame and guilt.” “Shame is an unslayable dragon. How can you atone for who you are?” “But what’s wrong with who you are?”
― Pamela Grandstaff, Hollyhock Ridge