Solitude Matters. And For Some People It's

We've Known About The Transcendent Power Of Solitude For Centuries; It's Only Recently That We've Forgotten It.

America Had Shifted From What Influential Cultural Historian Warren Susman Called A Culture Of Character To A Culture Of Personality, And Opened Up A Pandora's Box Of Personal Anxieties Of Which We Would Never Recover.

Spend Your Free Time The Way You Like, Not The Way You Think You're Supposed To. Stay Home On New Year's Eve If That's What Makes You Happy. Skip The Committee Meeting. Cross The Street To Avoid Making Aimless Chitchat With Random Acquaintances. Read. Cook. Run. Write A Story. Make A Deal With Yourself That You'll Attend A Set Number Of Social Events In Exchange For Not Feeling Guilty When You Beg Off.

I Had Always Imagined Rosa Parks As A Stately Woman With A Bold Temperament, Someone Who Could Easily Stand Up To A Busload Of Glowering Passengers. But When She Died In 2005 At The Age Of Ninety-two, The Flood Of Obituaries Recalled Her As Soft-spoken, Sweet, And Small In Stature. They Said She Was "timid And Shy" But Had "the Courage Of A Lion." They Were Full Of Phrases Like "radical Humility" And "quiet Fortitude.

...if You Can Think Of Meetings You've Attended, You Can Probably Recall A Time - Plenty Of Times - When The Opinion Of The Most Dynamic Or Talkative Person Prevailed To The Detriment Of All.