Anodyne
Thursday, October 09, 2014
 

"Know what else I see?"

 He didn't.  He didn't have a clue.

 "That's what makes you brave."

 It took a moment for that to sink in.  "What?"

 "You think I don't know?  Why you keep mouthing off to the wrong people?  Why you sabotaged your own career every step of the way?  Why you can't help but face off against anybody who has any power over you?"

 [....]

 "You're saying I overcame my fear," he began.

 "I'm saying you gave in to it!  Every time!  You're so scared of being seen as a coward you'd jump off a cliff just to prove you weren't!  You think I never saw it?  I was your wife, for God's sake.  I saw your knees knocking every time you ever stood up to the schoolyard bully and got your teeth kicked in for your troubles.  Your whole damn life has been one unending act of overcompensation, and you know something, love?  It's just as well. Because people need to stand up now and then, and who else is going to?"

(Peter Watts, Echopraxia, p. 321)
- posted by cjb @ 10:24 PM


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