Running Toward, Not Away
"One evening, after a twelve-hour shift picking peaches, we sat with Harvey over cold cans of Coors Banquet. The sunset radiated above us and the sky was so well illuminated we could barely look each other in the eyes. It was quiet for a while, only the rustling of the overhead leaves stirring around us.
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"Then Harvey cleared his throat. 'What're you kids running from anyway, out on the road like that?' he asked. 'Don't your families know where you are?'
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"I was surprised. By the sound of his voice, he didn't intend his words to be biting, but they seared through me hot. They churned up some of the deepest scars I have.
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"'We're not running from anything, Harvey,' I said in a measured voice. 'We're running toward something. Towards a noble goal.'" — Kit Whistler; Orange is Optimism, p. 148
Christopher David Ryan
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