'Life is like a painting by Monet...To understand what it is you have to view it from a distance.' Years ago a close friend took me to a Monet exhibit and as we gazed at the huge paintings that little phrase came to me like a thunderbolt. My world had been going a bit crazy back then...Health was an issue and between the treatments I was in court twice, sometimes three times a week (Another story for another time)...And I was beginning to see the life I'd lived more clearly because of the years that had swiftly gone by. Even more years have passed, children have grown up, friends and relatives have died, the hatred and anger that once drove me to continue has...Mellowed. Slightly. The world was seemingly becoming more civilized and then, well, we all know what happened during the last election and all of the atrocities which have continued on since. I actually believed this country had a future and now...Now the whole world seems to be balancing on a razor blade and

When we're young and the future is the great unknown it's fairly easy to find purpose in your life...Most of us have parents or family of some kind to take care of the daily needs, food, shelter, all around caring, so with whatever time school doesn't take up, we're left to our own devices, our own little dream worlds we create in our minds. Back then it might have meant running down to the local library (A tiny little place about the size of a small apartment), check out some books to read or sit in front of the television and watch any of the four channels we had, go outside and play with the neighbors or, in my case, find a pencil and paper, any paper, and draw. It's really the only thing I can think of that's always been with me, this need to create, to draw and, eventually, paint. I'd seen art and I knew people were behind these lines and if one person could do this, so could another...And I worked my ass off all to try and figure out how are was &#