The secret of learning to be sick is this: Illness doesn't make you less of what you were. You are still you.

Yet, it ought to be obvious that good music generally occupies a higher plane that mere politics. Great writers can express moods through melody and capture experiences we share most powerfully - love, lust, longing joy, rage, fear triumph, yearning and confusion.

The business of peace requires more than showing up with paint brushes, foodstuffs and an oil pipeline or two.

Pet lovers know that animals sometimes understand us better than we do, and the annals of human sin and desire provide plenty of stories to drive the point home.

Yet, it ought to be obvious that good music generally occupies a higher plane that mere politics. Great writers can express moods through melody and capture experiences we share most powerfully - love, lust, longing joy, rage, fear triumph, yearning and confusion.