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this reminds me of something i scribbled awhile ago on slow things :-)... Meandering leads to perfection - Lao Tzu :-) Come walk with me awhile no no don't hand me your excuses- i'll drop them on the floor (i'm clumsy like that) and they will break into a hundred hard-to-put-together-pieces and then you will have no more excuses at all- so you really might as well come walk with me now for awhile- since we're all on our way to perfection anyhow-and this moment you're holding was meant for meandering (a wonderful word that) and what it means is being very not in a hurry very willing to explore what's around the next bend and the next and the next and what a wonderful way is that to live in this world (a wonderful world this) know it is a gift to have that kind of time that kind of trust the time and trust that old people and children have and so do puppies the time and trust to smile with their hearts everytime you walk through the door and see how everybody talks about how everything these days is instant- everything from coffee to communication- but what i want to know is what about compassion? what about closeness? what about conversations sitting on the steps of the verandah and watching the clouds for the shape of a familiar face? i like slow things things that take more than an instant and allow you to blink without missing too much things that let you tilt your head to one side and look at them from different angles without disappearing on you and childhood is a slow thing- especially if you were a child in India summers of such spectacular sameness stretching before you like a small eternity dreaming through sultry summer nights waking to sultrier summer days where Time is a cast-off toy no longer important or interesting each day a measure of cheerful monotony and other slow things are buffalos who walk with unhurried magnificence gleaming black from the water they walk along the red ridge of earth next to the mainroad and have a way of looking down th... [View Full Comment] this reminds me of something i scribbled awhile ago on slow things :-)... Meandering leads to perfection - Lao Tzu :-) Come walk with me awhile no no don't hand me your excuses- i'll drop them on the floor (i'm clumsy like that) and they will break into a hundred hard-to-put-together-pieces and then you will have no more excuses at all- so you really might as well come walk with me now for awhile- since we're all on our way to perfection anyhow-and this moment you're holding was meant for meandering (a wonderful word that) and what it means is being very not in a hurry very willing to explore what's around the next bend and the next and the next and what a wonderful way is that to live in this world (a wonderful world this) know it is a gift to have that kind of time that kind of trust the time and trust that old people and children have and so do puppies the time and trust to smile with their hearts everytime you walk through the door and see how everybody talks about how everything these days is instant- everything from coffee to communication- but what i want to know is what about compassion? what about closeness? what about conversations sitting on the steps of the verandah and watching the clouds for the shape of a familiar face? i like slow things things that take more than an instant and allow you to blink without missing too much things that let you tilt your head to one side and look at them from different angles without disappearing on you and childhood is a slow thing- especially if you were a child in India summers of such spectacular sameness stretching before you like a small eternity dreaming through sultry summer nights waking to sultrier summer days where Time is a cast-off toy no longer important or interesting each day a measure of cheerful monotony and other slow things are buffalos who walk with unhurried magnificence gleaming black from the water they walk along the red ridge of earth next to the mainroad and have a way of looking down their distinguished noses at you and your workaday haste a leisurely long-lashed gaze that makes your breathlessness seem suddenly Undignified (because you see there is nothing more bafflingly dignified then a freshly bathed buffalo) bullock carts are slow too but they always make you a little sad such patient white faces with beautiful blackrimmed eyes nodding side to side in choiceless agreement under the heavy wooden yoke no body should have to work that hard without knowing why no body should be hit like that made to hurt like that with such impossibly high mountains of hay it makes a scratchy sweetsmelling sound and in the shade underneath the wooden cart a dirty hammock that would seem more fun if you weren't so worried about the bullock (someone's asleep inside) what else is slow is the lotus blooming because when i wake up she is shut and still sleeping- and there is no way i say to myself- there is simply no way that flower is going to get up and get ready in time for the day and i still haven't figured out how she does it so slowly that I can't see it happening and so fast that she's on time every time and if anyone's late it's flowergazing me and then there is too the slow of wisdom that comes sometimes not in a bright flash but in measured out moments strung together- wisdom that travels on foot and arrives much the same way- oh and the slow of silence the slow of companionship and the slow of the milkman who while he waits for you on the doorstep with his frothfilled bucket will spill a little milk on the ground for a small brown dog i like slow things things that bravely insist on living at the speed-of-life and not a split second faster though as the years grow you older that speed can seem to increase and there comes that imprecise moment when Time who for as long as you've known him has run on his hands (one hand shorter than the other but somehow he's managed to trundle along) Time gets up off his hands dusts off his palms shoots you such a challenging look of pity-and starts to run Catch-Me-If-You-Can such a sly thief- Time- and poets down the ages have hurled at him their graceful accusations but the guilty remains largely unabashed and decidely unrepentant and does it really matter- because- what do you want with so many possessions anyway? (no you don't have to answer that...yet) and lullabys are slow slowsung through the centuries under countless skies and in them all the loving poignancy pointed out by a man who might have been peter pan who once said little boys should never to be sent to bed because they always wake up a day older (and this you'll have to admit is true) and what else is slow is peeling pomegranates that eventually will give up their hoarde edible rubies in small whiteseeded heaps and slow too is the paperboat that doesn't pretend to have any purpose or place to go and the person who fashions it anyway for a child to hold in both hands and set free on slow waves with the wonder of one who has not yet learned to ask of this world- yes but what is your Point? there is a slow slowdawning realization that comes to a chosen few in this world that there is after all a brilliant point to pointlessness that belongs to the rainbow and the logic of the rose and speaking of roses there once was a boy called The Little Prince who once told a haughty rose that she was 'Beautiful but empty' and maybe what he was trying to get at was that beauty cannot hold anything on its own and that nothing means anything until it is cupped between the palms of love and yes he was an unusual boy The Little Prince what else is slow is writing a letter to some one who is far-away and thought-of writing it with black penstroke on white paper that carries the particular way you dot your i curve your c circle your o cross your t on paper unlined as the brow of a child so your sentences are an unsteady caravan making their way like uncertain nomads across a vast desert of fresh page meandering towards the palmtreed oasis of perfection in the quiet understanding of another -much like this.[Hide Full Comment]

Thoughts from the Wednesday Circle: * To me the relinquishments are about happiness-- when you drop these things it makes you happy. Today I ran into a blog that was called the happiness project- this woman her name is Gretchen, she's taking a year off to write a book to do everything that people say make you happy. She's done all the research and now she's trying it all- her blog is about all her experiences. Oprah in her show yesterday she had the Free Hugs guy on the show, the mayor of Newark Cory Booker he was on the show too, he lives in a place where there is no running hot water- if other people live there then he wants to too he puts his kettle on in the morning and then goes running. Oprah asks him why he does it and he says he feels calls to do it. At the end of the show she gives everyone a 1000 bucks and she says go out and do something kind. So the question I put out there for the circle is what would be your relinquishments for happiness- and what would you do with a $1000 bucks? * I was recently experimenting with intentions- my son tells me all the time they are important but I wasn't really fully convinced and then I started with some positive intentions and it seems to really work. In terms of happiness, the ability to let go of things that are not really important contributes to that. * Regarding happiness I've observed through the years that one way to sum up what I am looking for is a happiness that is not dependent on anything and I want to know now what the independent happiness depends on :-) * How to spend 1000 bucks I'd probably give it to a 100 school kids and ask them to do something kind. * Two years ago I gave up two things that had been integrated into my lifestyle. I didn't give them up because they were inherently bad things I did it more as an experiment. The way I think about it- it was more for me the exercise of not being attached to those things. And now it doesn't matter whether I do it or not. I think the o... [View Full Comment] Thoughts from the Wednesday Circle: * To me the relinquishments are about happiness-- when you drop these things it makes you happy. Today I ran into a blog that was called the happiness project- this woman her name is Gretchen, she's taking a year off to write a book to do everything that people say make you happy. She's done all the research and now she's trying it all- her blog is about all her experiences. Oprah in her show yesterday she had the Free Hugs guy on the show, the mayor of Newark Cory Booker he was on the show too, he lives in a place where there is no running hot water- if other people live there then he wants to too he puts his kettle on in the morning and then goes running. Oprah asks him why he does it and he says he feels calls to do it. At the end of the show she gives everyone a 1000 bucks and she says go out and do something kind. So the question I put out there for the circle is what would be your relinquishments for happiness- and what would you do with a $1000 bucks? * I was recently experimenting with intentions- my son tells me all the time they are important but I wasn't really fully convinced and then I started with some positive intentions and it seems to really work. In terms of happiness, the ability to let go of things that are not really important contributes to that. * Regarding happiness I've observed through the years that one way to sum up what I am looking for is a happiness that is not dependent on anything and I want to know now what the independent happiness depends on :-) * How to spend 1000 bucks I'd probably give it to a 100 school kids and ask them to do something kind. * Two years ago I gave up two things that had been integrated into my lifestyle. I didn't give them up because they were inherently bad things I did it more as an experiment. The way I think about it- it was more for me the exercise of not being attached to those things. And now it doesn't matter whether I do it or not. I think the only time I am truly happy is when I am truthful to myself and those around me. * This quote reminded me of a tape called Inner Growth through devotion- it talks about surrender to God. It says when you really give up everything that's when it starts-- and I realize I don't trust God, I am not ready yet-- just reminds me of how much I use ego as a protection. We have friends whose mother passed away, the father doesn't believe in taking- he gives but with the wife not there he can't take. He's raising two daughters on his own, he's a physicist, soccor coach- but takes no help. He got a stroke. He keeps on saying I worked so hard it's not fair. And I realized that "taking" is also a form of giving. I feel that this is a strong message to teach him to take from his family and friends. * A few thoughts came as the thought was read. The three words that come together for me are view, intention and letting go. The view point in the second relinquishment- is usually less broad than what it can be-- it's true for me- I was driving and there was this woman who was standing there that I totally didn't see because she was in my blindspot-- and I realized that when I know that I have a blindspot I compensate with another perspective-- bringing that to intention, one of the quotes that people cite is "the road to hell is paved with good intention" and I think when your intention isn't grounded in the letting go of your view point then it is limiting. That's an insight that came for me. * The first thing I thought was a quote- Knowldge is a process of acquistion and wisdom of letting go. This week I've been doing a lot of post-travel clean-up. My place felt very cluttered and - interesting that awhile ago I never thought of myself as having a lot of stuff- in India I was traveling with three pairs of clothes- I come back and feel burdened by a closetfull of clothes. Six sweaters! Needed to get rid of all this stuff. That's my personal story of connecting with that idea of relinquishment. * I cannot really depend on myself for being happy. All the 4 relinquishments are about giving up self- identity. Maybe that will result in a happiness that's not dependnent on anything. About the 1000$ bucks-- recently I've been researching alternative currencies. A woman bought train tickets for villagers in India so that they could ride for free. The people in the village got on the train and that one act resulted in so many changes within the villages, just that exposure and freedom....a very smart way of spending a few 1000 rupees. Freeing people up from some constraint that they have. Maybe I would use the money to figure out how to get something done without 1000 bucks. * A few observations-- the physical giving up people find hard to do because they are sentimentally linked to the past. In terms of turning your negative energy to positive energy some people find that hard to do because they need to release it. About separateness I run into that a lot. When I used to get assigned to something I didn't like I'd always think my manager favored someone else- but when I changed my way of thinking that stopped. I could think it was for the greater whole. * I did see the video with the hugs-- that's something that I always wanted to do and to see it amost made me cry. I think I am different in a business environment I hold back- I don't know if it's because I think I'm not good enough or what- but now where I am working I feel like I have that space to be my self. I had this burst of happiness the other day and I walked over to my co-worker and said can I have a hug? And she said sure! And it felt so good. I felt like I had a connection with the people I work with and I wanted to feel that in that environment. * I had saved up just a few books from my college days and my daughter was really excited to see the physics book I had used 30 years ago. I save a lot of things I never use- but the problem with this quotation- if I don't need it today what if I need it six months later? The tip I read was to box and date all the things you aren't sure you need - a year or whatever later if you haven't used it -give it away. * The comment about the text books reminded me about finding my dad's textbooks and his masters thesis, his first resumes- I sat there and read through this stuff and then he tossed it all. I heard about this movie coming out called The Pursuit of Happiness starring Will Smith- everytime I see the name of the movie the Happiness is spelt with a 'y'-- i as opposed to you- or why :-) Recently watched this animated short- it's called More and there's no dialogue just a claymation. I would explain it but can't do it justice. * When I lived in India I shared a car with my dad and we'd go to the temple and I loved to offer sweets there. Suddenly realized that I didn't have money one day and wasn't going to go to the temple and then a song came to my mind- that says everything is God's so why bother- and I felt so happy. The temple became my second home. So now even if I can't offer something there it's okay. * I have four immense closets that are packed. Everything has an association, some place I went to or the fabric is really nice- but it's bothered me that I can't recycle any of them. This is a confession. When we had the fire in my building I didn't worry for a second- what was going to happen was going to happen- but I worry if I have to throw something away. * I think about relinquishment and happiness and remember that I work with a group of people who have found that and live it every day. What's the name of my company? Kindergarden. As complicated as teaching can be they teach me lessons everday. With a 1000 dollars I'd split it among them and tell them to give it to someone else - am sure the'd think of something good to do with it. * I was also going to share a story about learning relinquishment from a child. Those who have less tend to give more. In a village in South Africa I was tired of sharing food with everyone. So I snuck a bag of peanuts into my pocket for just me. A little boy came up to me and handed me an orange and said I want you to have this orange. And then I realized how miserable the peanuts in my pocket were making me. And his relinquishment was so joyful-- it was such a lesson. * The idea of intent is interesting- I saw this movie called The Secret- when you put forward an intention the law of attraction says that what you focus on will play out in your life. And it says that positive thoughts are a 100 times more powerful than negative thoughts. You have to not just think it but feel it- you start the intent but you don't know how it's going to happen. * I've been working with an organization trying to transform it and I feel myself getting bogged down in the existing culture. Have been thinking about how certain people resist change and other times for other people more habitually the unknown in something to embrace or explore. To me it would be gold to figure out what that is. [Hide Full Comment]

Thoughts from Wednesday's Circle: *A couple of my own thoughts- i thought it was quite an interesting poem. The title is unusual. To me death is always inspring. It takes me to the importance or non importance of what I'm doing in the present moment. A few years ago we had a retreat with a Tibetan nun on death and dying. One of the neat things about it- she shared that if you really want to prepare to die then you have to really start to live. This concept of living in each moment giving rise to dying in each moment being inextricably connected. A Zen monk was here a few years ago and someone asked him what would you do if you had 15 minutes left to live and without missing a beat he said-- well whats wrong with this? This reflection lifts you up out of whatever myopic view you are stuck in at the moment. Someone asked a sage what he thought the most intriguing thing was about the human condition. He said all around us we see death and decay and impermanence but we don't believe that that is going to happen to us. To me it is empowering becuase it says when death comes are you going to embrace it or are other things going to come up to the surface? At my workplace cafeteria this week I saw a couple of co-workers who I might not otherwise have had lunch with and we had a really open conversation. Talked about Frankl's Man's Search For Meaning where he reflects on experience in a concentration camp- "No one can take away Man's last freedom- the freedom to choose his attitude in any given circumstance" and this person at lunch says do you read a lot of this kind of stuff? And I said yeah I do- I'm interested in the inner experience. And he says- I'm scared of what is going to be there within. I find myself oriented that way too but I'm scared. And then we talked about how there is both light and dark within us, and by embracing it we have the power to transform it. *I just really like this poem like most of Mary Oliver's stuff she gets something really phenomen... [View Full Comment] Thoughts from Wednesday's Circle: *A couple of my own thoughts- i thought it was quite an interesting poem. The title is unusual. To me death is always inspring. It takes me to the importance or non importance of what I'm doing in the present moment. A few years ago we had a retreat with a Tibetan nun on death and dying. One of the neat things about it- she shared that if you really want to prepare to die then you have to really start to live. This concept of living in each moment giving rise to dying in each moment being inextricably connected. A Zen monk was here a few years ago and someone asked him what would you do if you had 15 minutes left to live and without missing a beat he said-- well whats wrong with this? This reflection lifts you up out of whatever myopic view you are stuck in at the moment. Someone asked a sage what he thought the most intriguing thing was about the human condition. He said all around us we see death and decay and impermanence but we don't believe that that is going to happen to us. To me it is empowering becuase it says when death comes are you going to embrace it or are other things going to come up to the surface? At my workplace cafeteria this week I saw a couple of co-workers who I might not otherwise have had lunch with and we had a really open conversation. Talked about Frankl's Man's Search For Meaning where he reflects on experience in a concentration camp- "No one can take away Man's last freedom- the freedom to choose his attitude in any given circumstance" and this person at lunch says do you read a lot of this kind of stuff? And I said yeah I do- I'm interested in the inner experience. And he says- I'm scared of what is going to be there within. I find myself oriented that way too but I'm scared. And then we talked about how there is both light and dark within us, and by embracing it we have the power to transform it. *I just really like this poem like most of Mary Oliver's stuff she gets something really phenomenal out of the tiniest stuff- I can actually understand her. This particular poem I really liked-- when I think of death I think of life and when I'm thinking of life why we're here I automatically think of death. I liked the couple of lines where she talks about time an idea eternity another possibility. It reminded me of a time when I was on top of a hill at night and saw all these houses, lights, people and it was the first time it occured to me that there were so many people going through the same thing-- I wasn't the center of the universe. It's a nice way of thinking of what our purpose is and what we want to spend our life doing. The last line-- she doesn't want to simply have visted-- she talks about really embracing life and really being that way with death-- I feel like she is so involved and at the same time detached from it and I think to me the poem really talks about being alive in life. For me when I am in those moments of that pure space things sort of connect and there is a subtle universe that helps you towards the right path -- more moments in that time make me feel like I'm not just visiting. *I guess Death makes you think-- don't get too attached to things in this world. Gandhi used to say-- Renounce and Enjoy. Thinking of death makes it easier. *This poem was a good kick-in-the-butt reminder and a hug at the same time. Thanks. *Death can really remind us what is really important. *Death is certainly a reminder to engage so you can participate in life and I think that's what she's saying. Engage in the present moment and embrace what comes along. It also struck me -- how patterns and habits can take us away from being engaged but if you're really happy doing what you're doing then you're in the present moment all the time. *A couple of years ago I was really sick and I remember being at a train station with my brother and sister-in-law and we were talking and suddenly I felt so tired I had to look away from them-- it was something that I realized that it took a lot of energy for me to listen and I think sometimes we go into these patterns because we don't want to expend that energy. *When one foot is walking the other foot is resting. *When I think of Death I tend to check myself if what I'm doing is on the right track because Death is kind of a reminder that time is running out and when I reflected on what is the right thing I came up with one most important thing-- of course everyone says being in the moment- but being in the moment and doing what? The emphasis that I came up with was relationship. The duality concept is essentially helping you enjoy relationships with everyone- the entire universe- trees etc you can enjoy relationship if you spend your time thinking positively and spend your time to enjoy the relationships then when Death comes you will have fully enjoyed the relationships and the instrument life you have made the full use of it. *Last couple of days I was having thoughts of killing rats in my backyard I have been growing tomatos and rats have been eating them so I have been debating how I am going to do this and I even bought rat poison but couldn't quite put it out there and this is what came to me. *I was reading this book- a zen student asks master what happens after a person dies and the master says I don't know. But you're a master. Yes he says but not a dead one :-) I was reading Wilbur's Grace and Grit- he says if one gets a disease it's an illness with a specific nature that will take its course and then there is something called sickness which is something that we invent- the meaning we attach to the illness. And sometimes the effect of the meaning is far more than the illness itself. How a culture views illness decides a lot about what that illness does to the person. Everybody is going to die that's a fact. The meaning I associate with it my conditioning and culture- is where I think the problem is instead if I don't attach any meaning to it and live with whatever it is then I think there is no chance for it doing something to me. It becomes something that helps me grow. Recently we just had a boy baby and one of our friends who came to our Lamaze class this other couple they lost their baby during the birth. No comfort that we could offer. Read a book that had ten things that one shouldn't say to such a couple. The only thing to do is be there. Which kind of hit home for me that it is not possible to not have sadness associated with death but the thing is to not have a story attached to it. So whether it is life or death pleasure or pain without a story if I just experience it... *Life is basically a fatal disease. When somebody comes up with a diagnosis of cancer all it does is brings that persons awareness to yes indeed it's coming soon. It's coming one way or another whether you know it or not. At every moment you are already dying. It's not just the moment of last breath. You compare it to a saw that is cutting wood and when the two pieces are separated that's the last stroke. We have to improve every moment to improve the last moment. *I think when I think about embracing death what's difficult is it's about embracing the death of people around me and that feels very difficult to embrace. *Years ago I was on a retreat and I had a sign that I was going to die and I was convinced it was happening and I was relatively okay with it. And then I thought how are my parents going to feel? And I started to cry these tears of feeling for other people that were going to experience this. *It's ironic- at our work we deal with patients who die all the time and it evokes fear in me to acknowledge that there will be death for everyone...made me think of a book called pathways for the heart. People think about have I lived fully have I learned to love and let go? Things come to light through the process of death. It brings the most important things up. *When I got the quote it got me thinking- and I started building a really pretty picture of how I would face death and then I looked back to see if there is a pattern on how I react when death knocks-- and I was looking for a a pattern and it wasn't there each time it was different and it covered the spectrum from graceful to disgraceful-- there was one time when I was so terrified- there was another situation so ridiculous that we were laughing and there was another time when I thought I had a few moments left to live and felt a wonderful sense of peace and said something to the effect of this is it I guess. So next time I'm not sure where I'll be. I never quite thought I would live to this age so it's a very liberating feeling. I grew up in a war- all these experiences happened to me before I turned 13. *I guess I am blessed because I think until I was thirty something I was experiencing immortality. Why talk about death-- but these last few years I've been negotiating with it- it reminds me of Kabir he talks about death - he says you're going through life but at the time of death don't say you're not ready. In his poetry he talks about a girl going to her in laws place- the son in law is called the king of death. And the mother of the daughter says don't take her now come again later. I love that poem- she ultimately ends up going with the son-in-law and I think when I go I would like to go that way with the blessings of all those close to me. *I have a huge double standard when it comes to death- I don't think it's something that needs to be feared I have a lot of curiousity-- but unfortunately I can't extend that to those I care about. Something that you said earlier rings true - my dad died 11 years ago- visited his grave recently. I still have moments when it doesn't feel real to me. A kind of denial and acceptance at once. *I was once in a car that spun out of control- I remember feeling terrified and I think the feeling that I had of losing control was because at that point in my life I felt disconnected from my purpose and I felt if I went then no one I loved would know that I loved them. Two weeks later I was on a plane moving to another country and in preparation for that I had talked and touched base with so many people close to me and could feel a much deeper connection. So on the plane there was some really significant turbulence-- and it didn't bother me- and I thought how weird because this is the ultimate lack of control I'm not even at the wheel but I felt like-- here I go- and I was fine with that. *There is a power within that knows beyond our knowings. We are greater than are thoughts. And sometimes earth unveils that vision here. To live, to love are signs of infinite things. *Thinking about death- reading this title I was expecting to have these heavy dark feelings of sorrow but when I read it it was much more uplifting and the imagery of it struck me in a positive way. When I was younger I think maybe just five or six I felt this awareness of death and I remember looking at this donald duck stuffed animal and crying all day and my uncle told me oh you have your whole life to live-- I thought by focusing on living that was an escape from death- I didn't see the connection. The idea of existentialism- death reminds me of that philosophy of seizing your life not letting things slip away. Focusing on relationships- as a way of living and embracing death- when you feel intense love or a state of bliss that's when I think you can embrace death *First I thought- I don;t want to talk about death-- my first face to face with death was when my father passed away and it's constant denial like it still hasn't happened but when my father in law passed away I had to explain to my young sons what was death and their first question was what is death what does it mean and at that time the first thought that came to mind was that it was like changing clothes -- you don't get to see him again and then I realized that I hadn't realized this when my father passed away but when I was explaining to them I had the responsibility to make sure they didn't have fear around it. Talking to a woman recently who had a baby we started to talk about death and she said why talk about death? In my financial world Death and taxes are certain. I wish I could think about death as often as I think about taxes. This poem brought a lot of beauty into it. *Redwood trees are 99% dead.[Hide Full Comment]

The intelligence of compassion. It’s not often that you find those two words linked in this way. Maybe because you don’t need to be kind or caring to get a college degree (I wonder – what would happen to our world if we were graded on compassion? :-)). Cutting roses for the house the other day I stabbed my finger on a thorn and a moment later stepped on another one barefoot. I was intelligently compassionate enough not to hold this against the roses. But am I the same about the people I encounter whose thorns enter my skin? This passage in the simplicity and strength of its truth brought to mind a prose-like poem someone sent me recently- one that reminds me of the quiet understanding it takes to meet the hostility, sarcasm, insults and other barbed, stinging not-fun thorns of negativity that come our way with clear-sighted compassion. The generous, humble, courageous kind that can’t confuse the insult with the one who cast it. "The Ways We Touch" Have compassion for everyone you meet, even if they don't want it. What appears bad manners, an ill temper or cynicism is always a sign of things no ears have heard, no eyes have seen. You do not know what wars are going on down there where the spirit meets the bone. -- Miller Williams