My wife was the first romantic partner who understood both American and native parts of me - not so much the positive stuff, but the damage.
Interpretation
This quote reflects the deep understanding and connection in a romantic partnership, acknowledging both positive and negative aspects of one's identity.
In this quote, Sherman Alexie expresses the profound importance of being truly understood by a partner. He highlights that his wife has the unique ability to grasp the complexities of his identity, encompassing both his American upbringing and his Native American heritage, including the struggles and pain he has experienced. This emphasizes the value of empathy and connection in relationships, particularly when navigating personal challenges.
In practice
This quote could be shared during a discussion about the importance of empathy in relationships.
Gordie, the white boy genius, gave me this book by a Russian dude named Tolstoy, who wrote, 'Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.' Well, I hate to argue with a Russian genius, but Tolstoy didn't know Indians, and he didn't know that all Indian families are unhappy for the same exact reasons: the frikkin' booze.
I draw because words are too unpredictable. I draw because words are too limited. If you speak and write in English, or Spanish, or Chinese, or any other language, then only a certain percentage of human beings will get your meaning. But when you draw a picture everybody can understand it. If I draw a cartoon of a flower, then every man, woman, and child in the world can look at it and say, "That's a flower.
We all have to find our own ways to say good-bye.
I write books for teenagers because I vividly remember what it felt like to be a teen facing everyday and epic dangers. I don't write to protect them. It's far too late for that. I write to give them weapons-in the form of words and ideas-that will help them fight their monsters. I write in blood because I remember what it felt like to bleed.
A lot of people have no idea that right now Y.A. (young adult). is the Garden of Eden of literature.
I was studying the sky like I was an astronomer, except it was daytime and I didn't have a telescope, so I was just an idiot.
It is a beautiful thing when folks in poverty are no longer just a missions project but become genuine friends and family with whom we laugh, cry, dream and struggle.
No woman shall have the legal right to bear a child without a permit for parenthood.
Speaking as somebody with three sisters and a very largely female Muslim family, there is not a single woman I know in my family or in their friends who would have accepted the wearing of a veil.
The discovery that heartbreak is indeed heartbreaking consoles us about our humanity.
For "full" emotional communication, one person needs to allow his state of mind to be influenced by that of the other.
Sometimes a woman's love of being loved gets the better of her conscience, and though she is agonized at the thought of treating a man cruelly, she encourages him to love her while she doesn't love him at all. Then, when she sees him suffering, her remorse sets in, and she does what she can to repair the wrong.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.