We hoped it would be an oasis in the desert.

After a few months we realized they needed more services -- medical care, emotional support, places to clean up and to sleep, somewhere to do laundry.

I had to clear up my messy life. By letting go of the debris and filth, I have come to a deeper, more soulful beauty and clarity like an oasis in the desert. From that place of clarity, a vision of what I could have, what I could do, who I could be has emerged if I allow my heart to become a place of compassion, acceptance and forgiveness.

Boston is an oasis in the desert, a place where the larger proportion of people are loving, rational and happy.

Every one has his own deserts to cross. Sometimes the journey is short, sometimes it's long. Deserts maybe a symbol of hardships, uncertainties and, perhaps, death. But believe that in every desert, there's an oasis, every desert has an end and every desert has a promise...

Are you a politician asking what your country can do for you or a zealous one asking what you can do for your country? If you are the first, then you are a parasite; if the second, then you are an oasis in the desert.