I felt I was beating a rainbow to death

He's a shy man. Life has taught him not to show off what is most precious to him.

I was giving up. I would have given up - if a voice hadn't made itself heard in my heart. The voice said "I will not die. I refuse it. I will make it through this nightmare. I will beat the odds, as great as they are. I have survived so far, miraculously. Now I will turn miracle into routine. The amazing will be seen everyday. I will put in all the hard work necessary. Yes, so long as God is with me, I will not die. Amen.

The animals might embody certain traits. We think of tigers as being ferocious, etc. But to my mind, it was the other way around: the humans embodied certain animal traits.

My life is like a memento mori painting from European art: there is always a grinning skull at my side to remind me of the folly of human ambition.

Faith in God is an opening up, a letting go, a deep trust, a free act of love - but sometimes it was so hard to love.

It is true that those we meet can change us, sometimes so profoundly that we are not the same afterwards, even unto our names.