My Wife Who Is Non-jewish Regrets It

I Know How Many Days In Which I Have Just Answered E-mail, Had Three Phone Calls And A Two Hour Lunch. Poof, Gone. They Are Not Infrequent.

I Know From The Middle Distance I Give Off The Look Of Being Prolific, Which Is A Funny Compliment To Receive.

I Think The Story Is My Form.

I Have Myself Always Been Terrified Of Plagiarism - Of Being Accused Of It, That Is. Every Writer Is A Thief, Though Some Of Us Are More Clever Than Others At Disguising Our Robberies. The Reason Writers Are Such Slow Readers Is That We Are Ceaselessly Searching For Things We Can Steal And Then Pass Off As Our Own: A Natty Bit Of Syntax, A Seamless Transition, A Metaphor That Jumps To Its Target Like An Arrow Shot From An Aluminum Crossbow.

We Do Not Choose To Be Born.we Do Not--most Of Us, Choose To Die, Or The Times Or Conditions Of Our Death. But Within All This Realm Of Choicelessness, We Do Choose How We Shall Live--courageously Or In Cowardice, Honorably Or Dishonorably, With Purpose Or Adrift. We Decide What Is Important And What Is Trivial. What Makes Us Significant Is What We Do, Or Refuse To Do. We Decide And We Choose--and So We Give Definition To Our Lives.