You Know it's Bad

When you spent so much of the day hearing about what worse things are yet to be revealed about Iraq that you stay up until 4 AM reading Joseph Campbell's "The Power of Myth" just to try to scrub the brain. I should say rereading, because my Campbell books are usually somewhere I can pick them up quickly.

For those who may not be familiar with the late Joseph Campbell, his work is just delightful, weaving adeptly through a tapestry of symbols and myths and common stories shared by wildy different cultures. And despite what ever horrible tale he might have to tell here or there, he always sounds so damned optimistic, that our power as humans is NOT derived from an ability to prevent the terrible from happening, but from enjoying the power of good and joy when it is witnessed. Those moments may seem slim and far apart, Campbell writes, but they are there to be embraced.