Bureaucracies force us to practice nonsense. And if you rehearse nonsense, you may one day find yourself the victim of it.

The word 'experienced' often refers to someone who's gotten away with doing the wrong thing more frequently than you have.

The plan, a memory of the future, tries on reality to see if it fits.

Well, where am I really? I'm 200 feet off the ground in a manmade maze.

What does brace mean, anyway? Brace. Such an odd word. It comes from the Latin brachium, meaning arm. It means, as its heart, to embrace. It was a hug. A hug good-bye.

But what is the way forward? I know what it isn't. It's not, as we once believed, plenty to eat and a home with all the modern conveniences. It's not a 2,000-mile-long wall to keep Mexicans out or more accurate weapons to kill them. It's not a better low-fat meal or a faster computer speed. It's not a deodorant, a car, a soft drink, a skin cream. The way forward is found on a path through the wilderness of the head and heart---reason and emotion. Thinking, knowing, understanding.