The longer I live, the older I get. I have learned so many things the hard way, but I do learn from most of my mistakes, thank God.

The biggest mistakes I’ve made came from trusting the wrong people with privileged information. I gave in to the demand to answer questions that were neither fair nor reasonable to people I did not have to answer to. I have been used, even by close relatives and spouses, to find out things about my friends that were none of their business.

It’s ironic how much treachery and betrayal, usually over trivial matters, is woven tightly into the fabric of society, to the point that children betray parents, in-laws betray in-laws, and even wives betray husbands. The vice-versa world of dollars and secrets sometimes leaves us tearing up what God has put together, forcing us to support things that make no sense at all to anyone.

Sacred trust may have something to do with guarding the heart. Friendships are the most precious commodities on earth and my most vehement desire in life to accommodate my less fortunate friends in a shelter of my own design. I wish to become a gracious host so I can demonstrate real hospitality. Allowing people into one’s personal space requires courage and trust. Intentional, sustainable communities of the future will require high levels of advanced communication far beyond the shallow conversations of our day.

Even in our sleep, pain, which cannot forget, falls drop by drop upon the heart until, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God. From Agamemnon by Aeschylus 458 B. C.

The whole planet these days is a theater of war and hostility. The tragedy of the commons continues. *sigh*