I don't very often read novels.

I defend myself by improving myself.

So I had to be careful. I recognized the responsibility that, whether I liked it or not, I had to accept whatever the obligation was. That was to behave in a manner, to carry myself in such a professional way, as if there ever is a reflection, it's a positive one.

So I'm OK with myself, with history, my work, who I am and who I was.

A good deed here, a good deed there, a good thought here, a good comment there, all added up to my career in one way or another.

We suffer pain, we hang tight to hope, we nurture expectations, we are plagued occasionally by fears, we are haunted by defeats and unrealized hopes . . . The hoplessness of which I speak is not limited.

So it's been kind of a long road, but it was a good journey altogether.