In My Early Twenties, That's When I

Labels Not Only Free Us From The Obligation To Think Creatively; They Numb Our Sensibilities, Our Power To Feel. During The Vietnam War, The Phrase Body Count Entered Our Vocabulary. It Is An Ambiguous Phrase, Inorganic, Even Faintly Sporty. It Distanced Us From The Painful Reality Of Corpses, Of Dead, Mutilated People.

There Was No Way To Grasp The Reality Of The Present Which Slid Away Each Second, Invisible As Air; Reality Only Existed After The Fact, In One's Vision Of The Past.

My Life Was Incoherent To Me. I Felt It Quivering, Spitting Out Broken Teeth.

Life Was An Impenetrable Mystery Cloaked In Babble.

When You Read To A Child, When You Put A Book In A Child's Hands, You Are Bringing That Child News Of The Infinitely Varied Nature Of Life. You Are An Awakener.