Alternative Lifestyles, the emotional fly-drive packages of our times, come equipped with a set of clothes, a choice of authors, a limited menu of sports and a discount coupon book of clichés.

Slowly we adjust, but only if we have to.

When we describe what the other person is really like, I suppose we often picture what we want. We look through the prism of our need.

Values are not trendy items that are casually traded in.

We want our children to fit in and to stand out. We rarely address the conflict between these goals.

You can fire your secretary, divorce your spouse, abandon your children. But they remain your co-authors forever.

Without even knowing it, we are assaulted by a high note of urgency all the time. We end up pacing ourselves to the city rhythm whether or not it's our own. In time we even grow hard of hearing to the rest of the world. Like a violinist stuck next to the timpani, we may lose the ability to hear our own instrument.