So Be Patient. Do Not Compromise. And

A Language Is Not Just A Body Of Vocabulary Or A Set Of Grammatical Rules. ... Every Language Is An Old-growth Forest Of The Mind.

We Accept It As Normal That People Who Have Never Been On The Land, Who Have No History Or Connection To The Country, May Legally Secure The Right To Come In And, By The Very Nature Of Their Enterprises, Leave In Their Wake A Cultural And Physical Landscape Utterly Transformed And Desecrated. What's More, In Granting Such Mining Concessions, Often Initially For Trivial Sums To Speculators From Distant Cities, Companies Cobbled Together With Less History Than My Dog, The Government Places No Cultural Or Market Value On The Land Itself.

What Is Science But The Pursuit Of The Truth? What Is Buddhism But 2500 Years Of Observation As To The Nature Of Mind?

In The West We Cling To The Past Like Limpets. In Haiti The Present Is The Axis Of All Life. As In Africa, Past And Future Are But Distant Measures Of The Present, And Memories Are As Meaningless As Promises.

Only, In Haiti, I Realized, Is It Possible To Drink Rum And Haggle With A God.