It is the thing my brother, in that room, forgot — the thing he would almost lose everything remembering.

I have thought a great deal, since, about how easily and how commonly that particular truth gets forgotten, and about how much harm the forgetting does — not just in delivery rooms, but everywhere.

We live in a world that is forever trying to make a person’s worth conditional, forever attaching an if to it.

You are worthy if you are healthy.

You are worthy if you are useful.