Proceed At Your Own Peril

"...if I remain in the dark about our purpose here and the meaning of eternity, I have nevertheless arrived at an understanding of a few more modest truths: Most of us fear death. Most of us yearn to comprehend how we got here, and why--which is to say most of us ache to know the love of our creator. And we will no doubt feel that ache, most of us, for as long as we happen to be alive."

Jon Krakauer, Under the Banner of Heaven

Krakauer's closing comment at the end of his chilling account of violent murders inspired by delusional, narcissistic faith. The book has no particular soft spot for any brand of religion and often calls out the abberant and abhorrent possibilities enmeshed with the pursuit of the divine. It is all the more poignant that, at the end of his research of belief gone deeply awry and his provoking reminders to readers that all faith is irrational and anyone believing in the unseen and unquantifiable could also go awry, he does not attempt to rationalize the irrational hunger of our souls.

Onward

-Let this be a lesson to us all, the preacher said. You will be walking someday in the dark and the truth will come shining through, and behind you will be a life that you never want to see again.

Let the Great World Spin, Colum McCann

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Eric Otto

Flu Flowers

I have been laid very, very low with the flu this week. ALWAYS choose a cold over the flu if you have a choice, is my take on the matter, though there's never any choice. Of all the non-deathly ills, the flu is the worst.

I caught it from my neighbors' adorable one-year-old. She has gone on to take down a good chunk of her extended family. A regular Ghengis Khan of cuteness. Her parents (who remain healthy through it all) delivered the following along with orange juice and contrition:

These over-the-top blooms are pretty much the only things that have made me smile for several days. I can't help but grin every time I look at them. The Liberace of daisy bouquets.