" Cherin, mother (Aleppo) We had gotten used to oppression. It was part of our life, like air, sun, water. We didn’t even feel it. Like there is air, but you never ask, “Where is the air?” A lot of people were opposed to the way things were, but no one protested. You just adapted to oppression and rotted along with it. And then—in one second, in one shout, one voice—you blow it up. You defy it and stand in front of death. You have an inheritance, and after thirty years, you slam it on the ground and shatter it. "

― Wendy Pearlman , We Crossed a Bridge and It Trembled: Voices from Syria