Yael Shahar

Are we not, all of us, in some way, damaged mirrors? Are we not constantly engaged in focusing the light of thought__emories out of the depths of human experience__nto the photographic plate of each moment? The image captured in this instant is a snapshot of all eternity, subtly altered by our own brokenness. And who__ to say that the image formed by a damaged mirror is not a truer picture of the universe?

There is a continuity in our lives__ strain of music that flows through it all, unaltered by death or pain. It is true that in the face of pain and death, we are very small. But in the face of life and memory and love, even death is very small.

The connections that we have with others, the things we learn, and yes, our prayers__ll of it is a web of connections that bind us into the fabric of reality and make us part of something greater than ourselves. And if our reality is only a tiny reflection of a much greater reality, still it is also an essential part. And the same is true of each individual life. Each deed and thought__ach word between friends__dds a new thread to a tapestry so vast that we may never be able to step back and see the whole.

Every action in this world, every word, every thought, has an effect. But the actor is also acted upon by his action. The condition on which you are allowed to make a change in the world is that the world changes you as well.

It__ one of those times when the question is its own answer_. The writing is itself the solution to the inability to write!

Regret is not the same as guilt. It is expressed by: __ can__ believe I did that. It__ not like me. This is not how I am! How could I do such a thing?_ It means to see ourselves as the best we can be, and to be disappointed in not living up to that.