Friendship has no civil, and few emotional, rights in our society.
Spiritual energy brings compassion into the world.
Spiritual life is contractual.
With compassion, we see benevolently our own human condition and the condition of our fellow beings. We drop prejudice. We withhold judgment.
History is what scholars and conquerors say happened; story is what it was like to live on the ground.
In the midst of overwhelming noise and distraction, the voice of story is calling us to remember our true selves.