The Right To See Things Your Way...Even If You Force It Down My Throat.

Watching the fallout from the Prop 8 vote in California has been disturbing. For anyone who has been living under a rock, the voters of California got to vote on whether to keep or get rid of their court-mandate right for gays to marry. And by a very surprising margin, the voters elected to get rid of it. The result? The rainbow and pink swastika brigades have taken it upon themselves to riot, vandalize, assault, and intimidate those who do not share their "tolerant" and "enlightened" views. This has included venom-laced invective directed against the Mormon church, which was a major contributor to the "No" campaign, leaving burning Books of Mormon at the entry ways to Mormon temples, marching and assaulting those who express different viewpoints, and "outing" and harassing various donors to the "No" campaign. I suspect that this behavior is influencing people, but not in the way that the "activists" would like. The sad thing is that in addition to sabotaging their interests, they will eventually endanger themselves by deciding to assault someone who won't be as forgiving as most of the Christians they have made a point of bullying up to this point. Unfortunately, this outbreak of asshattery is not confined to the gay and lesbian community. It is part of a larger trend of "thugocracy" which is casting its shadow across the country in the names of "Change" and "Enlightenment".

We saw this during the Presidential campaign. Joe the Plumber asks a question, and in two days, every detail of his life is laid bare, when we still knew so little about the candidate that he dared to question. When critics of Obama were scheduled to be interviewed, supporters rallied and swamped radio/TV stations with calls, threatening the stations and repeating any lie or smear to discredit the speaker. Like it or not, this was leading by example, and is an unsettling herald of the age of Obama. Now there are rumblings about a return of the Fairness Doctrine. I was and remain skeptical. I have read the court cases. There is even less justification, in the age of cable TV and satellite radio for such an overbearing imposition of federal authority. Especially when the other side has begun to grow bold enough to abandon spin in favor of fiction. However, since the left is now so emboldened, and feeling the power gained from the skillful employment of fiction, I can concede that they may well try it. After all, the acolytes of Algore and the fable of global warming have been thuggishly enforcing their rigid dogma on the scientific community and lately by extension, national governments for sometime now, regardless of the size or weight of inconvenient facts to the contrary of their new religion. But they have of course, felt justified. They are, afterall, saving us from ourselves, right. And pay no attention to the enormous profits to be reaped from the practice of selling carbon credit indulgences offsets.

The point I'm coming to is this: There is a growing movement among the left that says that the rest of us are not smart enough to decide for ourselves what is right. We aren't 'tolerant' enough. We aren't 'diverse' enough. We don't do enough for the planet, and therefore it is up to them, those who see themselves as both smarter and morally superior to us, to save us from ourselves, and they see nothing wrong with forcing us to see it their way. The lump on the back of my head is ok if Steve and Bob can get 'married'. It is ok to question authority, as long as it doesn't come with a (D) after its name. The job I used to have and the standard of living I once knew and wanted to pass to my children is an acceptable sacrifice, as long as it slows the rate of global warming that isn't really occurring...and its OK for Algore himself to have a carbon footprint the size of Godzilla on steroids because he buys those indulgences offsets himself as he is trying to save the planet from the evviiillll humans. All the behaviors the left has accused the right of committing for the last four years are those the left currently engages in now. I have been talking for a while about the Great Pushback™. It seems to me that there is a growing restlessness on the right and it won't take too much more to trigger the pushback. And on that terrible day, I don't think I'd want to be standing on the left, because I don't believe the left will be standing for long.

Sometimes, I Have a Lucid Moment...

...not often, but occaisionally. I was playing on this thread over at the Rott, and someone asked a question that none of my fellow rotties seemed to have the correct answer for. I helped them. As follows:

No, really - how do you envision an America under Obama?

A land where one will have to adopt a hyphen for their Americanism to even approach enjoyment of the blessings of Liberty.

A land where “Whitey” will feel the anger and reprisal of mobs whipped into frenzies for the slights and injustices committed by past generations.

A land where the liberally perverted notions of fairness and ‘equality’ will enforce mediocrity and utterly destroy the spark of genius that breathed life into this country and all it has achieved.

A land where reason and logic will be divorced from the law, and legislation by judical fiat will become the unquestioned norm.

A land where our leaders will allow those who hate freedom and liberty to inflict insult and injury on our populace at will, while those charged with securing and defending our liberty continue to kneel and grovel before our enemies in an attempt ‘have a dialogue’.

A land where the scorn and derision that the elitist left in this country harbor for it becomes completely mainstream, and normal Americans will be taught to loathe and apologize for all that is good about this country.

A land where everyone is special, so that no one is.

A land where the decieved would soon hope for change…back to a country worth having.

Does that answer your question?

Something For a Cloudy Sunday Morning

The Word of the Day

com·mit·ment (kə-mĭt'mənt)
n.

3. The state of being bound emotionally or intellectually to a course of action or to another person or persons: a deep commitment to liberal policies; a profound commitment to the family.


From The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Why?

Because I am tired of a throwaway society.

I had great personal and moral objections to performing divorces when I started practicing law, and I still have them to this day. I'm not saying that there aren't some cases, such a physically abusive relationships, where this course of action is not just appropriate, but also recommended. However, I am of the opinion that:
1. It is too easy to get married to begin with; and
2. No-fault divorce is a blight on the social landscape of this country.

What's that? "But sometimes its just too hard to get along." you say?
True. It can be very difficult to get along with a spouse sometimes. The pull of competing dreams and unspoken expectations can lead to resentments and schisms in the home that can be very difficult to reconcile. But if you can simply get a divorce, for no reason at all, rather than make the effort to make these things work, then most people are relieved of the effort necessary to live up to their commitments.

"But I did try."
Yes, maybe you did. But you didn't keep trying. Talk to the old folks, kiddies. They'll learn ya a thing or two about marriage. My grandparents, who went longer than 50 years were blunt: There are times when you are going to be mad at your spouse. White-hot mad. They may not even realize it. That may make you madder still. You might have a period of bad sex. You might have periods with no sex at all. You aren't going to have the euphoric feeling of adoration that you once had. But you made promises, and that means that sometimes you play nice when you don't want to. Sometimes, they won't either, but if you stick with it, and appreciate this teamwork and camaraderie, you will be rewarded with something rich and deep: A lifelong commitment, with foundations of respect, freindship, trust, and real love.

"And who are you to question my choices?"
Nobody. Nobody at all. Just someone fed up with the idea that divorce is an option when things don't go right. Life is messy. Relationships are hard. Instant gratification has destroyed our collective sense of sweat equity in the worthwhile things in life. I'm tired of watching friends who meant what they said at the altar being left behind when something different (you'll note that I didn't say "Better") comes along. I'm tired of the damage that it does. I'm tired of children being put in the position of having to navigate between two households, and being robbed of the security necessary to help them to grow up whole. I'm tired of people who never have to resolve issues with themselves going on to make the same choices repeatedly, leaving more destruction and human wreckage in their wake.

Who am I to have this opinion? Nobody. Nobody at all. And if every nobody stood up and said "Enough is enough." then maybe we could make a better society for ourselves.

Another Filtched Bit...

Stolen from M at the Cigar Intelligence Agency:

A VISITOR FROM THE PAST
(Author unknown)

I had a dream the other night I didn’t understand,
A figure walking through the mist, with flintlock in his hand,
His clothes were torn and dirty as he stood there by my bed,
He took off his three-cornered hat and, speaking low he said:

“We fought a revolution to secure our liberty,
We wrote a Constitution as a shield from tyranny,
For future generations this legacy we gave,
In this, the land of the free and the home of the brave,

The freedom we secured for you, we hoped you’d always keep,
But tyrants labored endlessly while your parents were asleep,
Your freedom gone, your courage lost, you’re no more than a slave
In this, the land of the free and the home of the brave.

You buy permits to travel, and permits to own a gun,
Permits to start a business, or to build a place for one,
On land that your believe you own, you pay a yearly rent,
Although you have no voice in choosing how the money’s spent.

Your children must attend a school that doesn’t educate,
Your Christian values can’t be taught, according to the state,
You read about the current news, in a regulated press,
You pay a tax you do not owe to please the IRS.

Your money is no longer made of silver or of gold,
You trade your wealth for paper so your life can be controlled,
You pay for crimes that make our nation turn from God in shame,
You’ve taken Satan’s number, as you’ve traded in your name.

You’ve given government control to those who do you harm,
So they can padlock churches and steal the family farm,
And keep our country deep in debt, put men of God in jail,
Harass your fellow countrymen while corrupted courts prevail,

Your public servants don’t uphold the solemn oath they’ve sworn,
Your daughters visit doctors so their children won’t be born,
Your leaders ship artillery and guns to foreign shores,
And send your sons to slaughter, fighting other people’s wars.

Can you regain the freedom for which we fought and died?
Or don’t you have the courage, or the faith, to stand with pride?
Are there no more values for which you’d fight to save?
Or do you wish your children to live in fear and be a slave?

People of the Republic, arise and take a stand!
Defend the Constitution, the Supreme Law of the Land!
Preserve our Great Republic, and God-given right,
And pray to God to keep the torch of freedom burning bright.”

As I awoke he vanished in the mist from whence he came,
His words were true: we are not free, we have ourselves to blame,
For even now as tyrants trample each God-given right,
We only watch and tremble, too afraid to stand and fight!

If he stood by your bedside in a dream while you’re asleep,
And wondered what remains of our Rights he fought to keep,
What would be your answer if he called out from the grave:
“IS THIS STILL THE LAND OF THE FREE AND THE HOME OF THE BRAVE?”

All It Takes Is For Good Men To Do Nothing

I read something today that rubbed me the wrong way. Actually, several somethings.
The first was a comment from at friend at his own site on a thread about a dope stoopid enough to defend King Elliot of the DroppedTrou. I respect this person. A lot. His example is one a few that actually got me started blogging. I know from his posts and conversations with him that he has a strong belief in God, and the Bible. This is what made the comment even more irritating to me. The gist of it was that while laws preventing prostitution should be obeyed, even if they are stupid. I could have misread it, I could have misunderstood it, but frankly, it has left me a little rankled. King Elliot's troubles have brought the discussions of prostitution to the national forefront, but even for some of the public recognition of the heartache and shame that his activities have brought to his wife, and daughters, there seems to be little recognition of the inherent evil that prostitution represents. The eight hundred pound elephant in the room is the connection between the damage to innocents and the family in general that the toleration of such practice causes. I can't imagine that there are a whole lot of fathers in the world who get all warm and tingly at the thought of their little girls growing up to sleep with men for money. I have sons, so the dynamic is not quite the same, but still I want better for them and from them. The current national focus dissects the process of modern day prostitution, and the types of clients who frequent the business, as well as the glamour and money that some women can make. What is missing from this discussion is the downside, and the destruction that some the those involved in the practice wreck on other people in their lives. The fact that Mrs. Spitzer is still standing by King Elliot, and according to some reports, actually encouraged him to attempt to remain in office, despite other reports that he has been frequenting call-girls for a while, and engaging in sexual behavior that puts not only him at risk, but her too, does not help to spark a debate in which we recognize the practice for what it is: evil.
Instead, we get interviews with former practitioners who, contrary to expressing regret about their choices, instead discuss the more glamorous elements, improbable results, and celebrate the fact that their sentence was short and their book is coming soon. The worst part? The fact that she seems to think that sleeping with married men helped to prevent them from having affairs and thus ruining their marriages. What? What? Last time I looked, infidelity was infidelity, whether it is an affair lasting a span of months, years, or sleeping with a prostitute, even just once.

The world we live in is a marvelous place. We can be in touch with anyone, anywhere on the planet, instantaneously. A few minutes at a computer with a search engine can reveal a multitude of information that used to take hours to ferret out in the library. We can meet and get to know people anywhere in the world without ever meeting them in person. It has unquestionably improved our quality of life. Unfortunately, it has also conditioned us for instant gratification, and instilled the belief that no one will know what we do. However, it also allows things that might not otherwise be encountered to creep into our lives. Our morals, and ultimately our souls will suffer a death of a thousand cuts. Porn is free and available to anyone with a computer. We are constantly bombarded by images and opinions that foment and feed disaffections in our lives, driving wedges where none previously existed. We start to compromise with the things we know are wrong, until we reach the point where we may no longer recognize ourselves. At the same time, the growing emptiness within us grows, driving us for more, and better. Is it any wonder that under such circumstances that as a society, we fail to take such trivial matters as wedding vows seriously. We allow the messages to make us believe that our gratification of immediate lusts is equivalent to satisfaction as a person, despite the fact that the feeding of such urges never leads us to satiation. And when we don't get what we want in our commitments, despite the fact that our ininitition-driven quests often correspond to our own lack of effort and participation, it is simply too easy to unilaterally proclaim that the commitment is dead, the pact void, and that we are entitled to kill something that has a life of its own, regardless of our own neglect and inattention to it.

I feel somewhat betrayed today. I feel betrayed about eyes that know the truth, but just can't see. I feel betrayed by a media that is in love with the scintillation to the point that it ignores the corresponding destruction, and in its own way glorifies evil. These betrayals would make it so easy not to care, if we would only succumb to evil's relentless advance. I feel like we are losing this fight. It bothers me because it matters. And I think our adversary knows it. We have all manner of distraction, from the innocent to the prurient, and everywhere in between, and the troubles, blocks and stumbles that arise whenever individuals awaken to this threat. And for those readers who might say "Who is he to be on this high horse?", I know about many of these things from experience as much as study, so think of it less as a judgement than a call to action. If you dare.

Stuff for the New Year

No doubt everyone will start posting their thoughts and wishes for the new year. I've had some time to think about it, so here goes:

1. Live Boldly. Love extravagantly. Excelsior. Try things I always wanted to do. Self-check for the right reasons. Take possession of what has been promised.

2. Date more. I was blessed enough to marry the only woman I ever loved. Its long past time to do things with her and her alone that let her feel how cherished and adored she is.

3. Lose 100 lbs. Yeah, this is going to be tough. Requires mucho gym time, being very careful about what I eat, and more physical activity. But if I start getting a lot more into shape, I'll feel better, get flirted with even more at the grocery store, make my doc happy, and be around a lot longer for my family. Oh for the days when I had the time to run 12 miles a day, or cycle 100 miles a day.

4. Get serious about my novel. This is going to be a hard one also. It will mean setting weekly goals for how much to write, but thanks to the opinions of a few close friends regarding the chapter that has to be the best thing I've written in over a decade, I believe that I can actually write something that someone will want to read. Thank you to you all. You know who you are.

5. Continue working on relationships. At the end of the day, this is the stuff that matters. Things like your relationship with your spouse are the only things in your life that you ever get to have complete control over, and its time to stop settling and start building. The clients will never come and stand over my grave, thanking me for all that time I spent working on their stuff. I'd rather have the people I love tell stories about the ways I touched their lives and left memories that will always leave smiles on their faces. That means filling the shoes I have only ever looked at, and remembering the one man in my life who I felt set a good example for this: my Grandpa.

6. Make my job more satisfying or change it. There is a lot a like about my job. There is a lot more that I don't. This year, I take it and make it mine, or I move on to somewhere else. I hear Pierce County is hiring a new District Court Commissioner. Maybe I should take the path my law school comrades thought I would take and don the black robe?

7. Read a different translation of the Bible in a year.


What are you gonna do?

Darkness, shadows, and darker urges kept repressed

The background noise in my brain has been preoccupied with thoughts of this nature lately. Yeah, I have a dark side. One that I have kept at bay most of my life, and has only gotten indulged by some of the gamesmanship of my profession and vicarious visuals in films and television. I don't know if I have lightened up in my old age, or if I have simply distilled it into areas most near and dear to me. By this I mean that I truly am an easygoing guy, maybe quicker to laugh than I have been in the past, and even more frightening, prone to smile for no reason at all of late. And that's all fine. You may never see my other face...unless you do something to threaten those whom I love, namely, my beloved and long-suffering wife, or either of my boys. If you present a real threat to any of them, you better pray for a miracle, because only God will be able to save you. If you actually hurt them, well, the term "treble damages" may take on a whole new meaning.

I'm starting to think that it is a very good thing I never gave free reign to my base impulses, but I'm also of a mind that it is good to have them, in case they are ever needed. Someone near and dear to me recently asked what I might be doing if I was not a husband or a father, and I could have done whatever I wanted. While slightly offended at the implication that I didn't want to be a husband and father, I set to work thinking about it, since I didn't have a ready answer. After months of considering the question, I realized that the answer was startling, and an opportunity to be thankful for the healing power of a loving wife and children in my life. The answer? "I would likely be doing very distasteful and awful things for our government, and enjoying my work." Like the nameless assassin in "Serenity" kind of work.

Thank you Iffintchka, for your love, the introduction you made on that night so many years ago, and for bearing two wonderful sons to us. Without the three of you, I'm quite sure that my soul would be blood soaked beyond redemption by this time. I thought about this last night while watching "The Shadow", in the scene when Margo asked to look into Lamont's eyes after she figured out he was The Shadow, and he replied "You can look, but you won't like what you see." I'm glad I have never had to say that. I have, on occasion, had to quote St. Garibaldi's famous line "I can dream real dark." It is why I prefer the dreamless sleep I have most nights.

Of All the Things I've Lost...

...I miss emotional intimacy the most. It is magical, in a way that nothing else in life is. It is a passkey, allowing you entry past your significant other's defenses, and granting them the same. It charges any touch with just the right level of significance, whether a simple acknowledgement, or making an embrace a superconductor of empathy, or desire. It liberates.

Children don't have the defenses we build as adults. They cannot conceive of the need for them. They simply love who they love. There are no conditions. There are no expectations. There are seemimgly limitless reserves. There are no slights and there is undeserved grace for mistakes and neglect.

Adults are different. Under the right circumstances, we'll drop the pretense, and the walls between us will evaporate, but too often it requires an emotional commerce. "You show me yours, and I'll show you mine." And if it is lost, it hurts. It hurts enough that we'll look elsewhere. The pain and fear of more will stop us from looking to the place we should, without regard for understanding what happened.

I've learned over time that when the human heart is involved, no relationship is beyond redemption, nothing is so broken that it can't be fixed. Both have to want to fix it, and be courageous enough to take it elsewhere and ask for help, but open hearts can accomplish more than ones that are hard and stony. I've seen it happen. Every journey begins with a step.

So what fills your missing piece?

So I wrote a little post last week on the longings that each of us carry around inside which apparently only one person bothered to read (thanks SoHoS), but I find that it is a topic that I'm really not ready to let go of yet. I've really always considered myself to be a "simple" person, although I know one person who vehemently and adamantly disagrees with this contention. Yet the more I consider the issue, as it pertains to myself, the more I find that it is a complex and multifaceted issue. It isn't just identifying those longings, it is recognizing what speaks to them, what calls to them, and what fills the gap between these things. David Baerwald was right: "The more I learn, I find how little I really know."

For me, music, by itself, or with words has always been able to evoke images in my head that are so real that I feel them, and have always done it in a way that words alone never have been able to convey. The real mystery for me is that the passage of time or repetition ad nauseum does not seem to dilute these reactions. The Cowboy Junkies album 'The Trinity Sessions' still gives me chills when I listen to it. The music always fills the space I listen in, and wraps around me like a child's favorite blanket, putting me at ease and dropping every defense. I can't help but to sway in time, with my eyes shut, drinking in every note and breathy pause. In contrast, Don Henley's song "The Boys of Summer", which was played to death still always makes me think of the cusp of adulthood and the days when it just seems that no one can come out and play anymore. U2's "The Joshua Tree", and its codicil, "Rattle and Hum" are so rife with spiritual longing without actually saying it directly that I still marvel that there are people who just never seem to get it. I guess I always considered it to be such a testimony of the zeitgeist of our times that, aside with their later "Actung Baby", which in many ways is a commiseration with those who were never able to make the intuitive leap to the underlying quest of "The Joshua Tree", or who were in some ways tied to those that couldn't, which represented expressions of musical empathy as much as it was a catharsis for individuals in that band, I have always been disappointed with their subsequent efforts.

Somehow, these things don't just speak to, or for the longings. They feed the need to have them understood. It is a reassurance that someone "gets it", and that you aren't alone with that tiny voice inside. Some times that simple validation is all we need. Which brings me to my point. What fills that gap for you, reader? The comforting "thwok" of a well hit golfball? The look in your child's eye when they finally understand the math problem? The rev of the engine you worked on all day? The feeling you have after clearing every file off your desk at the end of the day?

C'mon. Fess up.

Mulling Over the Human Condition

"There's two boys holding
stars for wishing.
One boy's sure,
one says "I don't know."
"Sometimes I feel we've been missing
love." and away they go."
------------------------------------
And hearts that fall in two
pretend they don't show
Holding back the rain
Baby let it go
You don't get much without giving
You don't get much without giving
Hey Hey Yeah."
The Bo Deans--"You Don't Get Much"

Its a funny thing. The human heart, the figurative one, is the seat of a tremendous longing that drives even the hardest, the coldest, the deadest of us to do things that we might otherwise be at a loss to explain.

Anyone who has read this page for any period of time can tell you that I wear my heart on my sleeve. What isn't as well-known is that this is a very recent circumstance.

I used to be a monocolor person. I could be happy. I could be angry. Hurt and sadness were never to be given any expression. Any other emotion was simply incomprehensible to me. And yet, even in this mindset as a teenager, I had longings. They weren't anything I could understand. Nothing I could ever find the words to express, but I'll be damned if they didn't find expression in the most pernicious places. In my case, they usually found their voice in music. Maybe in a motif I was playing. Maybe in a compelling drum cadence. Maybe a vocal harmony. Any of these could provoke a reaction in me that I could not explain, as some longing or emotion could find a voice in this medium.

As a junior in high school, I first heard the song I quoted at the beginning of this essay. I know now what it spoke to in me. That same year, our music teacher wanted to expand our performances to include vocals. Much to my surprise, I was asked if I wanted to sing. I was even more surprised when I heard my own voice say yes. When asked what I wanted to sing, I handed her this CD and told her which track. She put it in the stereo and turned it up. I closed my eyes and instantly, I rolled on the ever turning rhythm, my voice in harmony with the vocals, and I was awash in a mass of feelings that I couldn't even identify. When the music stopped, I opened my eyes to find hers regarding me with a quiet, fiery look. She was clearly fascinated. I'm sure she wondered where this incredible longing had been hiding in this inexhaustible fount of sarcasm. Bless her soul, she probed, and poked, and prodded, but couldn't get me to describe what had affected me so about the song. It wasn't any one's fault. It was like asking someone who was blind all their life and had somehow been given sight to describe color. The sensation was simply overwhelming, but it spoke to a longing I didn't know that I even had: to find the person in life meant for me. Much to my chagrin, I found that person later that year, but since I was completely unequipped to deal with emotions that person stirred up in me, I ran like a spooked rabbit. The point is that I have never met anyone who didn't have this kind of longing.

It takes different forms. Some want this other piece of themselves to proclaim the union to the world. Some want a quiet, restrained respect than comes with the assurance that the other is there, no matter what. Some want a silent simpatico, where nothing ever needs be said, the quiet anticipation of the other's needs being all the fulfillment they'll ever need. Some long only for acceptance, understanding, and the patience to allow each other to be who they are as the journey of their lives unfolds.

The variations are endless. And the greatest secret is that for many, if most, but not all of these longings are satisfied, then there is an incentive and joie de vive that cannot be suppressed, because each day brings the promise that the lover will grow into that need, or that you might stumble into a longing that you never knew you had, and is so much more satisfying than the one left behind.

Like anything in life, these can be the start down a dark path. Sometimes we stumble. Sometimes we get impatient. Sometimes we feed this unfulfilled longing to our own discontent, and that ininition will grow, until it towers over our emotional landscape so we are unable to see anything else. This usually doesn't end well, in a plastic society where the next upgrade is right around the corner. It is simply too easy to pack up our longings and move on than it is to invest the time, effort, and true emotion into a resolution. We are afraid of the changes we might find with commitment. Instead, the pursuit of fulfillment for our longings becomes a never ending chase after a mirage, and the traveller never sees that the excess is rooted in emptiness. Think I'm wrong? Look around you. Think about people you know. It saddens me to know that the simplest expressions of intimacy could take their feet off the path.

And I quietly marvel at the basic expressions of these longings we see every day, all around us. The spouse trying to redeem the other from emotional divorce. The simple expression of gratitude and dedication from one faithful companion to another. The sincere desire in another to have the same kind of relationship, and have it so honestly acknowledged. The quiet desire to leave this world holding the hand of the one who walked by their side for so long.

The expressions of our longings tell the world who we are, with greater truth and more focused detail than any words could ever express, even if we could even be counted on to tell the truth. And I'm glad for this. Without the expression of the longings of our hearts, we would simply be alone, together.

Another thought...

I know some people just can't stand his stuff, but I love C.S. Lewis. The man had a way of distilling things that I have pondered for years into a few short paragraphs, in a simple, elegant way. The problem is when I am wading in to his deep thoughts, I find I cannot read him quickly. I still have to unpack the contents of those few short paragraphs in my mind and still spend some time sorting it all out. Either I'm the world's biggest dumbass, or I'm deeper than I thought. However, I'm not going to make that call. Anyway, I came across another gem by the man today that demonstrates how he just seemed to get it.

<em>"Love anything, and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal.'


And of course, I had to be the one who decided a while back to start living boldly...no real complaints though. Emotionally, I'm the healthiest I have ever been in my life. Although that may not really be saying much.