Enemy, enemy, enemy! Even the word violates half the spirit of democracy. Disagree, yes. Argue, yes. Be angry with, possibly. But enemy? No. Unless against democracy it fights, against the spirit of democracy, against the spirit of equality for all, for those nearby and those further away. A single moment’s anger can easily fall to projection of our own evil onto others, and the habit of anger is how our own evil becomes our own enemy.

Humility. Humility. Humility. How great you make those you bring down. How powerful your weakness. How subtle your irresistible power. If one virtue both enables us to get along and provides for peace of mind, that virtue is humility. If one virtue shows the strength of one person without assault on another, that virtue is humility. If one virtue elevates others while elevating oneself, that virtue is humility. Humility is a rock upon which democracy must be built, for it gives to all without taking from any.

Story! Story! Story! From proverbs to fables to sentences and phrases, from metaphors to grammar to a single word we choose, we make stories tight, short, partial and whole. Each time we look at ourselves, a story pushes us from behind and presses us forward. Each time we make a conscious choice, a story pushes us from behind and presses us forward. Each time we judge ourselves, or others, a plan, or improvisation, the past, or the future, or the present, a story pushes us from behind and presses us forward. Through the accidents of birth, place, culture, people, stories rise. Or stories come to us from the sacred, our culture, or we know not how. Even a story we reject is a story of rejection. We repeat our stories, and our wisdoms repeat and our errors repeat. Stories are friends we keep close, enemies we keep closer. Stories move us like friends, like enemies, like family, beyond our ability to know, in ways we cannot see, the cares of life moving us from one moment to the next, moving one life from another. We must wisely choose our stories, or the best we can.