Genocide, the physical extinction of a people, is universally condemned, but ethnocide, the destruction of people's way of life, is not only not condemned, it's universally celebrated as part of a development strategy.

Its haunting to realize that half of the languages of the world are teetering on the brink of extinction.

In the West we cling to the past like limpets. In Haiti the present is the axis of all life. As in Africa, past and future are but distant measures of the present, and memories are as meaningless as promises.

The measure of a society is not only what it does but the quality of its aspirations.

The world can only appear monochromatic to those who persist in interpreting what they experience through the lens of a single cultural paradigm, their own. For those with the eyes to see and the heart to feel, it remains a rich and complex topography of the spirit.

Only, in Haiti, I realized, is it possible to drink rum and haggle with a god.

So be patient. Do not compromise. And give your destiny time to find you.