... from our vantage point it is now clear that the only thing the population had to fear was fear itself.

I write with teenagers in mind.

In this environment it was a simple matter for The Republic to maintain its structure. People did as they were told because they were working together, focused on a common threat, a shared enemy. But time passes. Fear becomes a memory. Terror becomes routine; it loses its grip.

In the end, living is defined by dying. Book-ended by oblivion, we are caught in the vice of terror, squeezed to bursting by the approaching end. Fear is ever-present, waiting to be called to the surface. Change brought fear, and fear brought destruction.

Which came first, the mind or the idea of the mind? Have you never wondered? They arrived together. The mind is an idea.

I try not to be surprised. Surprise is the public face of a mind that has been closed.

Human spirit is the ability to face the uncertainty of the future with curiosity and optimism.