foreword
some people may look at me later in life and say that i've been given a fatalism about life: that certain things just happen and that we must accept them. the way i see it, i could use that sort of fatalism. certain things do happen, and there is no sense in bemoaning them; they must be accepted before anything else can be done. what i am being given is an optimism that something can be done, despite the things that just happen.
while others have held out a hand and told me to stand up, only one has actually grasped my hand and pulled me to my feet; and that, i feel, will make all the difference.