Our hope is that the elementary reading of comics will lead to the joy of reading good books,

said Nic Buchanan, the creator of the comic books. ''They don't know their own history. We celebrated democracy and the miracle, but the building stones of a progressive and enlightened society needs work.

I am fundamentally an optimist. Whether that comes from nature or nurture, I cannot say. Part of being optimistic is keeping one's head pointed toward the sun, one's feet moving forward. There were many dark moments when my faith in humanity was sorely tested, but I would not and could not give myself up to despair. That way lays defeat and death.

May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears.

The curious beauty of African music is that it uplifts even as it tells a sad tale. You may be poor, you may have only a ramshackle house, you may have lost your job, but that song gives you hope. African music is often about the aspirations of the A

It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.