If I Scribbled A Few Words On

In America, People Of A Certain Age Ask, 'where Were You When Kennedy Was Shot?' In My House You Were More Likely To Be Asked, 'where Were You When You First Read 'the Catcher In The Rye?

Such Things As Anguish, Woe, Affliction, Guilt, Feelings Of Awfulness, And Utter Wretchedness, The Bread And Butter Of Days Of Yore And Russians, Sadly Have Very Little Staying Power In These Lickety-split Modern Times.

But Most Critically, Sweet, Never Try To Change The Narrative Structure Of Someone Else's Story, Though You Will Certainly Be Tempted To, As You Watch Those Poor Souls In School, In Life, Heading Unwittingly Down Dangerous Tangents, Fatal Digressions From Which They Will Unlikely Be Able To Emerge. Resist The Temptation. Spend Your Energies On Your Story. Reworking It. Making It Better.

But When You Flee Someone, No Matter How Far You Roam, That Person Will Follow You As Doggedly As The Stars.

It Was Never The Act Itself But Our Own Understanding Of It That Defeated Us, Over And Over Again.