This thread reminds me of the NPR discussion yesterday with Marlo Thomas. (Monday is my day off and I spend a lotta time inna car.) Two parts: right words need to come at the right time.

Mine tend to be from literature. This from Katherine Paterson, an outstanding author who happens to write for young people:

If I am silent, no one will hear me.
If I scream, no one will listen.
Between the silence and the scream is the story.

A lot of her books involve someone all fucked up because they've been treated bad, and some person embraces them and makes them whole. (*great Gilly Hopkins* contains a foster mother who is practically God.)

I had hung around various New Left groups and was tired of the screamies. I had done enough screaming myself and it didn't do wonders for my social skills. I was working on becoming a storyteller. It was just what I needed to hear about telling any story at that point.

Happy summer, y'all.