We think we don't deserve love, we think if we let it in we'll become too soft. But a wise man named Levine said it right. He said." Love is the only rational act.

If we can remember the feeling of love we once had, we can die without ever going away.

We have a sense that we should be like the mythical cowboy... able to take on and conquer anything and live in the world without the need for other people.

Do I wither up and disappear, or do I make the best of my time left?

My contention is that as long as you have other faculties-the emotional, psychological, intuitive faculties-you haven't lost yourself or even diminished yourself. Don't be ashamed when you're physically limited or dysfunctional; don't think that you're any less because of your condition. In fact, I feel I am even more myself than I was before I got this illness because I have been able to transcend many of the psychological and emotional limitations I had before I developed ALS.

When you look at it that way, you can see how absurd it is that we individualize ourselves with our fences and hoarded possessions.

Although you may be old or sick, it's not too late to take stock and ask yourself if you really are the person you want to be, and if not, who you do want to be.