Once we recognize our shadow's existence we must resist the enticing step of going with its flow.

He lay before God as a woman opens herself to a man, with legs apart, stomach exposed, arms open. But unlike some women, he did not have the inner strength that allowed them to do such a thing without fear. There was no woman’s strength in Mellas at all.

When the peace treaty is signed, the war isn't over for the veterans, or the family. It's just starting.

The Marine Corps taught me how to kill, but it didn't teach me how to deal with killing.

I mean, if you're proud of what you've done when you've served in the military, well then we call that bragging. And if you are unhappy about what happened, we call that complaining. And so what are you going to do?

We mistakenly assume that bodily survival has a higher precedence than ego survival. This is simply not generally true. Ego will happily destroy the body for its own sake. Look at overweight executives headed for heart attacks on the way to getting their pictures in Fortune or anorexic models suffering slow starvation on their way to getting their pictures in Vogue. Protecting ego is the general case.

It won't hurt you. It's just to kill plants. It's called Agent Orange...and it won't bother humans.