Saturday, July 30, 2011

Reach

You think this is about one thing, but it's really about something else.

Read it.

Prepare to not be able to do much of anything else for a little while afterwards.


I found this because I subscribe to Longreads.  Of course, you should too.

17 comments:

Terri Coop said...

Beautifully written, beautifully said and beautifully true.

I'm a lawyer. I repped a kid convicted of stealing a bank full of coins. About $50. She was a nervous size 2 who couldn't stay with her probation and ended up in a group home. She was 14.

In therapy she finally revealed why she stole. She needed the money for drugs. A year or so earlier a man had offered her meth. It was cool. They had fun. And then he told her that if she wanted more, she had to do things . . . and then he dropped her when she got too strung out and tweaky. So, she stole.

She changed. She told. She testified. She gained 30 pounds and she lived. Not perfect, but she got unstuck. It. Can. Be. Done. But, first, somebody needs to listen.

Sugar, thanks for listening.

Loretta Nyhan said...

Oh...wow.(I can't type more because I can't breathe...)

José Iriarte said...

I have no words.

Anonymous said...

I'm speechless. That was...heartbreaking, but beautifully written. Every word ached with an undercurrent of hope.

Thank you for sharing that link. It is wonderful to find something so amazing. The whole site has been bookmarked. ~Ali

greta garbo said...

Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.

Joelle said...

Thanks, J. My friend, who I still think of as a teen, but is obviously not, grew up to be the director of Girls' Inc. NW. http://www.girlsincnworegon.org/ They are doing amazing things. I sent her the link.

Carrie Butler said...

Wow.

That gave me chills. Thank you for sharing it with us.

Unknown said...

This one will, indeed, be staying with me.

Sometimes the pain of being human almost takes your breath away ... but the capacity of others to feel your pain, to attempt to bear some of it, can do the same thing.

Thanks so much for sharing :-)

Valentina Hepburn said...

Grief and loss define our equality as human beings. We may all deal with those imposters differently, but they are emotions that will be impossible to avoid at some point in our lives.
Poor little love. Her grief and shock at her devastating situation has sucked the joy out of her life. Perhaps she feels that nothing will ever be the same again. Maybe for her, it can't be the same. She has grown up. The scales have fallen from her eyes and she has seen that loss is part of life. I hope she's OK. I really do.
Thank you for sharing.

Darlene Underdahl said...

Thanks for sharing this...

Lynn(e) Schmidt said...

I read what you wrote, and I thought I'd be okay...but you're right. I can't do much of anything else. I hate, HATE, people who hurt kids of any age. I hate those stories of abuse, neglect, those things that cause people to hurt themselves because they're somehow unworthy. It's bullshit. It's fucking bullshit.

Thank you for sharing this.

nora said...

My boss has a "WRITE LIKE A MOTHERFUCKER" mug. I thought it was the coolest thing and wanted one of my own. When he told me it was from an article some online advice columnist wrote, I went in search of Dear Sugar.

I didn't know what I was getting into. The first day I found her archive, I ended up reading half her articles. I forgot everything else I was supposed to be doing. Each one I read almost left me in tears. The article you just linked to was one of the first I read.

When I think of powerful writers, she's definitely near the top of the list.

TAWNA FENSKE said...

Wow. I have no words. A first for me, I think. Thank you for sharing this.

Tawna

Jill W. said...

Janet,

This one landed right in my heart. [g] I'm sharing the link on my blog, too; I'll link back to credit you.

I was one of the girls who 'made it.' I had tears in my eyes by the end, because every word is so, so true.

We need more people like Sugar in the world.

Anonymous said...

Bless you for sharing this.

It makes one feel more human for having read it.

Men had tears in their eyes too...

Marsha Sigman said...

One of the comments on the article described it as 'brutally beautiful'.

I can't think of any better words because this writer's voice keeps ringing in my head.

Devon said...

I read this days ago, and I'm still thinking about it.