In Every End, There Is Also A

And That Is How Change Happens. One Gesture. One Person. One Moment At A Time.

But Aren't Many Gardens Beautiful Because They Are Imperfect?...aren't The Strange, New Flowers That Arise By Mistake Or Misadventure As Pleasing As The Well-tended And Planned?

Come Awake, Tom. Fathers Can Willfully Hurt Their Children. They Can Be Addicts Too Weak To Give Up Their Vices, No Matter The Pain It Causes. Mothers Can Turn You Invisible With Neglect. They Can Erase You With A Denial, A Refusal To See. Friends Can Deceive You. People Lie. It Is A Cold, Hard World. I Do Not Blame Nell Hawkins For Retreating From It Into A Madness Of Her Own Choosing.

He Took Comfort In The Neon Signs, The Wild Strands Of Jazz Creeping Out Of Clubs Whenever Happy Swells Of People Pushed Through The Doors In Their Finery.

Perhaps This Is How Girls Fall -- Not In Some Crime Of Enchantment At The Hands Of A Wicked Ne'er-do-well, A Grand Before And After In Which They Are Innocent Victims Who Have No Say In The Matter. Perhaps They Simply Are Kissed And Want To Kiss Back. Perhaps They Even Kiss First. And Why Should They Not?