In the eyes of their witnesses, exemplary figures redeem their own suffering, which in turn emboldens these witnesses to attempt painful self-overcomings of their own.

The most common is a female character. Single of course, lamenting that she can never own a cat because once you have one you won't be far away from being the cat lady of the neighborhood.

All the things I couldn't know sat somewhere inside, embroidered into me—maybe not quite fixed to the point of inevitability but waiting, in any event, for a chance to unspool.

We try to do our part, and whenever there is a bake sale, we try to participate.