The sort of survivor that you have to be live through that? That is mental toughness of a whole new level, my friend. I kept thinking, "I don't think I'd be one of those survivors because I don't think I could survive the heartbreak of people doing that to other people." I have a whole different form of respect for those who survived.

I can see how that re-frames one's sense of what Hell is and what its power is over a person.

I've known survivors in the past but that was before I understood the importance of collecting first-hand accounts -- and honestly they would never have told a child about what happened.