Do we make ourselves into what we become or is it built into our genes, into the fate spun for us by whatever shapes events?

The best teachers have showed me that things have to be done bit by bit. Nothing that means anything happens quickly--we only think it does. The motion of drawing back a bow and sending an arrow straight into a target takes only a split second, but it is a skill many years in the making. So it is with a life, anyone's life.

Kill every enemy twice, Wilky said. Better than gettin' shot by a soldier pretending to be dead.

Another of the hard things about being in a war, grandchildren, is that although there are times of quiet when the fighting has stopped, you know you will soon be fighting again. Those quiet times give you the chance to think about what has happened. Some of it you would rather not think about, as you remember the pain and the sorrow. You also have time to worry about what will happen when you go into battle again.

If it wasn't for good," my mother says, "we human beings would have been wiped out a long time ago. Either the monsters would have gotten us or we would have killed each other off with greed and jealousy and anger. So we have to believe in good. We have to look for the good in ourselves.

The best teachers have shown me that things have to be done bit by bit. Nothing that means anything happens quickly - we only think it does.

Do we make ourselves into what we become or is it built into our genes, into the fate spun for us by whatever shapes events?