Very wise, SD. Thank you, and all the best.

Thanks also to Foxy and Suse for your thoughtful insights, and, have a good one.

May the season bring joy, and comfort to all in need - and we all need something, even a hug, (or a lot more), and maybe some quenching rain.

Fingers crossed for 2014, and beyond.

Dear Shaggy,

I agree with you that we shouldn't live in the past.
However, we can learn from it. Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn
tells us in the Preface to his book, "The Gulag Archipelago,"
about an old Russian proverb that says,

"No, don't! Don't dig up the past!
Dwell on the past and you'll lose
an eye."

But the proverb goes on to say,

"Forget the past and you'll lose both eyes."

Decades go by, and the scars and sores of the past are
for many healing over for good. However, unless we learn
from the mistakes of the past, the tragedies, it is
unlikely that we will have a happier future to contemplate.
The moral choice is ours to make.

To you, Saltpetre, Suse, and everyone of goodwill,
May you have the Spirit of Christmas which is Peace.
The Gladness of Christmas which is Hope. And, the Heart
of Christmas which is Love.
And may your spirit continue smiling, and your sould
dance to good music in the New Year.