No matter how much he talked, she never answered him, but he knew she was still there. He knew it was like the soldiers he had read about. They would have an arm or a leg blown off, and for days, even weeks after it happened, they could still feel the arm itching, the leg itching, the mother calling. Pat Cunningham Devoto
About This Quote

Soldiers in the Vietnam War would feel their arms and legs and even their mothers calling to them after getting injured. They were still able to feel it all even though it was gone. They knew they were still there, but they could no longer feel anything. This reminds me of a story about a man who gets hit by a car and is paralyzed from the neck down.

After this he is fully conscious and is aware of everything going on around him, but cannot move or do anything about it. He starts to become paranoid and is afraid that someone will come for him and kill him. Then one day, while sitting in his chair with his eyes closed, he feels two soft fingers touch his cheek and he hears soft whispering voices telling him not to worry because they are taking care of everything.

Eventually he begins hearing other people’s voices as well, which makes him even more uneasy because he thinks that someone else has come to kill him. When people start talking to him, he starts asking questions like “Who are you?” “Why are you here?” He wants to know what they want because he wants them to leave so he can leave as well.

Source: Out Of The Night That Covers Me

Some Similar Quotes
  1. Play around. Dive into absurdity and write. Take chances. You will succeed if you are fearless of failure. - Natalie Goldberg

  2. Want something else more than success. Success is a lovely thing, but your desire to say something, your worth, and your identity shouldn’t rely on it, because it’s not guaranteed and it’s not permanent and it’s not sufficient. So work hard, fall in love with... - Veronica Roth

  3. It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation. - Herman Melville

  4. Kites rise highest against the wind, not with it. - Winston S. Churchill

  5. When you show yourself to the world and display your talents, you naturally stir all kinds of resentment, envy, and other manifestations of insecurity... you cannot spend your life worrying about the petty feelings of others - Robert Greene

More Quotes By Pat Cunningham Devoto
  1. This book was written so that we may take heed and remold our story. I am certain that when enough of us become aware of how we are being exploited by the economic engine that creates an insatiable appetite for the world's resources, and results...

  2. The first question we must address deals with optimism, the possibility of achieving our goal. Are we in a position where we can actually hope to effect change? Assuming we become convinced that there are reasons for optimism, we move to the next question. Are...

  3. Who can see twenty-five years into the future?” she had asked. “Your guess is as good as theirs. Confidence is everything.

  4. The United States spends over $87 billion conducting a war in Iraq while the United Nations estimates that for less than half that amount we could provide clean water, adequate diets, sanitations services and basic education to every person on the planet. And we wonder...

  5. In response to my question about how we might rein in the empire, he said, "That's why I'm meeting with you. Only you in the United States can change it. Your government created this problem and your people must solve it. You've got to insist...

Related Topics