Looking after a very sick child was the Olympics of parenting. Chris Cleave More Quotes by Chris Cleave More Quotes From Chris Cleave In my world death will come chasing. In your world it will start whispering in your ear to destroy yourself. I know this because it started whispering to me when I was in the detention center. Chris Cleave whispering ears world Courage is a muscle that develops through use. It's no use waiting for some inner fire to conveniently become apparent at the moment of crisis - that's cartoon stuff. Chris Cleave cartoon fire waiting Still shaking, in the pew, I understood that it isn't the dead we cry for. We cry for ourselves, and I didn't deserve my own pity. Chris Cleave pity understood cry People wonder how they are ever going to change their lives, but really it is frighteningly easy. Chris Cleave easy wonder people I think my ideal man would speak many languages. He would speak Ibo and Yoruba and English and French and all of the others. He could speak with any person, even the soldiers, and if there was violence in their heart he could change it. He would not have to fight, do you see? Maybe he would not be very handsome, but he would be beautiful when he spoke. He would be very kind, even if you burned his food because you were laughing and talking with your girlfriends instead of watching the cooking. He would just say, 'Ah, never mind'. Chris Cleave girlfriend heart beautiful I think all of us are intrigued to imagine what we as individuals would become, if we were ever tested as hard as that golden generation was. Chris Cleave golden generations thinking Death, of course, is a refuge. It's where you go when a new name, or a mask and cape, can no longer hide you from yourself. It's where you run to when none of the principalities of your conscience will grant you asylum. Chris Cleave capes names running Our own personal brand of courage - in relationships, in conflict, in our principles - is as unique as our fingerprints. Chris Cleave conflict unique principles I think bravery means a different thing to everyone. Chris Cleave bravery mean thinking When I reached Fort Binjemma, for example, where my grandfather was stationed for a while, the whole Victorian fort was decaying. Barbed wire surrounded it, spray paint on the ancient walls claimed it as private property, and the moat where my grandfather and his men had grown crops - in desperation as the siege's hunger bit - was completely overgrown with bushes and trees. Chris Cleave wall tree men I was astonished to find that the positions my grandfather had defended were now overgrown and entangled with trees and thorns. I suppose I had developed a sense of reverence for the locations he described in his memoirs and letters - the forts and the high emplacements. I had expected them to have been preserved in some way. Chris Cleave location grandfather tree I wanted to look at the differences between how we fought then and how we fight now, because the current lack of closure generates a state of psychological unease that is interesting to acknowledge and examine. Chris Cleave differences fighting interesting Yet war doesn't end with armistice, it only ends with forgiveness and reconciliation. Chris Cleave armistice ends war It is certainly impossible to imagine forgiving the enemy while their animus remains undefeated. Chris Cleave forgiving impossible enemy I do think it is harder to acknowledge our strengths, or to forgive ourselves and each other for our shortcomings, when there has not been a result we can all agree on. Chris Cleave forgiving results thinking I write in the novel's afterword that our recent wars "finish not with victory or defeat but with a calendar draw-down date and a presumption that we shall never be reconciled with the enemy". Chris Cleave writing war enemy I do think it is harder to acknowledge our strengths, or to forgive ourselves and each other for our shortcomings, when there has not been a result we can all agree on. And it is certainly impossible to imagine forgiving the enemy while their animus remains undefeated. Yet war doesn't end with armistice, it only ends with forgiveness and reconciliation. Chris Cleave forgiving war thinking
