…how Monstrous The People You Loved Could

I Was Aware Now, As Ever, That Between All People There Were First Times You See Them And Last Times You See Them.

...the Deepest Secrets About Ourselves That We, In The Ultimate Act Of Humanity, Will Spare Those We Truly Love.

In College I Studied '60s And '70s Radicalism, Student Activism, Forms Of Political Violence, Groups Like The Weathermen, The Black Panthers, The Symbionese Liberation Army, The New Left.

Sometimes It Takes More Courage Not To Let Yourself See. Sometimes Knowledge Is Damaging - Not Enlightenment But Enleadenment.

It Felt As If We'd Been To War Together. Deep In A Jungle, Alone, I Had Relied On Them, These Strangers. They'd Held Me Up In Ways Only People Could. When It Was Over, An Ending Never Felt Like An Ending, Only An Exhausted Draw, We Went Our Separate Ways. Be We Were Bonded Forever By The History Of It, The Simple Fact They'd Seen The Raw Side Of Me And Me Of Them, A Side No One, Not Even Closest Friends Or Family Had Ever Seen Before, Or Probably Ever Would.