Things didn't turn out the way they used to, but what can you do? You must take life the way it comes at you and make the best of it. - Yann Martel

Things didn't turn out the way they're supposed to, but what can you do? You must take life the way it comes at you and make the best of it.

I remember the first slap, just as I was being brought in. Already then something was lost forever, a basic trust. If there's an exquisite collection of Meissen porcelain and a man takes a cup and deliberately drops it to the floor, shattering it, why wouldn't he then proceed to break everything else? What difference does it make, cup or tureen, once the man has made clear his disregard for porcelain? With that first blow, something akin to porcelain shattered in me. It was a hard slap, forceful yet casual, given for no reason, before I had even identified myself. If they would do that to me, why wouldn't they do worse? Indeed, how could they stop themselves? A single blow is a dot, meaningless. It's a line that is wanted, a connection between the dots that will give purpose and direction. One blow demands a second and then a third and onwards.

When your own life is threatened, your sense of empathy is blunted by a terrible, selfish hunger for survival.