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Be Loyal to Yourself
Published in
Sep 24, 2020
“Hit dogs holler.” — My elders, and probably yours too
Once I was talking to my great aunt about how someone’s outsized response to a situation overshadowed the situation itself. As she combed through and picked her greens in the kitchen sink, she said this: Hit dogs holler.
That phrase changed my life. Everything became clear. Mega aggression as a response to a topic is one way that some people process guilt. Knowing this made it easier to walk away, thoughtfully, from further entanglement with said person. Yes Auntie, a hit dog definitely hollers.
ZORA fam, what old saying liberated you? Our grannies knew what they were talking about, didn’t they?—Adrienne Samuels Gibbs, features editor at ZORA
