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" Consider also the special word they used: survivor. Something new. As long as they didn't have to say human being. It used to be refugee, but by now there was no such creature, no more refugees, only survivors. A name like a number -- counted apart from the ordinary swarm. Blue digits on the arm, what difference? They don't call you a woman anyhow. Survivor. Even when your bones get melted into the grains of the earth, still they'll forget human being. Survivor and survivor and survivor; always and always. Who made up these words, parasites on the throat of suffering! "

Cynthia Ozick , The Shawl


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Cynthia Ozick quote : Consider also the special word they used: <i>survivor</i>. Something new. As long as they didn't have to say <i>human being</i>. It used to be <i>refugee</i>, but by now there was no such creature, no more refugees, only survivors. A name like a number -- counted apart from the ordinary swarm. Blue digits on the arm, what difference? They don't call you a woman anyhow. <i>Survivor.</i> Even when your bones get melted into the grains of the earth, still they'll forget <i>human being</i>. Survivor and survivor and survivor; always and always. Who made up these words, parasites on the throat of suffering!