from With by Donald Harington

"What's bored. Bored is when you caint find something to keep you curious. So long as there's anything going on in the world, I'll never be bored....You just aint looking fo rit. Or you caint see it. Or caint hear it. Or caint taste it or smell it or feel it. Why there aint a moment goes by that something wondrous don't occur...Like a orange garden spider building her web. Or like the wind a-slewing through the cedars. Or the sound of them dogs afar off a-hrolfing and a-hrothgaring as they chase their game. Or the lightning bugs all over the meader at dusky dark. Or the fine smell of oak wood fresh cut. Or the sweet breeze that puffs from your nose when you're a-sleeping." spoken by Adam Madewell's in-habit (306-7)

"a small group of thoughtful, commmitted citizens..."

I've seen this quote a hundred times in the past few years, partly because it's painted in Lincoln High School's hallway.

Sometimes it's unfortunate that "...a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." --Margaret Mead

That's what the Bush administration has done. That's what the timber companies have done in recent decades. That's what the Inquisition did in medieval/renaissance western Europe. That's what the farmers of Mesopotamian antiquity did when they annihilated the indigenous folks in front of them and then spread north, south and east from there.

This "empowering" idea is meant to inspire hope to its readers. Does it inspire the best sort of action?