Dreaming, Dreaming, Dreaming -- Weren't Our Dreams

Mama Used To Tell Us A Story About A Cicada Sitting High In A Tree. It Chirps And Drinks In Dew, Oblivious To The Praying Mantis Behind It. The Mantis Arches Up Its Front Leg To Stab The Cicada, But It Doesn't Know An Oriole Perches Behind It. The Bird Stretches Out Its Neck To Snap Up The Mantis For A Midday Meal, But Its Unaware Of The Boy Who's Come Into The Garden With A Net. Three Creatures—the Cicada, The Mantis And The Oriole—all Coveted Gains Without Being Aware Of The Greater And Inescapable Danger That Was Coming.

Let Those Who Believe, Believe. Let Those Who Doubt, Doubt.

I Am Old Enough To Know Only Too Well My Good And Bad Qualities, Which Were Often One In The Same.

But There Are Certain Books I Would Never Put On A Kindle Because You Want To Be Able To Look At Graphs And Photos Or The Footnotes And Maps. You Can't See That.

People Say You Need To Be Strong, Smart, And Lucky To Survive Hard Times, War, A Natural Disaster, Or Physical Torture. But I Say Emotional Abuse—anxiety, Fear, Guilt, And Degradation—is Far Worse And Much Harder To Survive.