Hard to believe this is Manhattan, no? I am incredibly lucky to live where I do in upstate Manhattan, where the woods out back and their constant (and constantly changing) beauty buffers city life.
I have been thinking (pondering, mulling over) recently about how difficult it can be to hear hard truths, and then today I stumbled over this quote:
"We need very strong ears to hear ourselves judged frankly, and because there are few who can endure frank criticism without being stung by it, those who venture to criticize us perform a remarkable act of friendship, for to undertake to wound or offend a man for his own good is to have a healthy love for him." Michel Eyquem De Montaigne
Which kind of says it all. (Montaigne was French, from the Renaissance, known for introducing essays as a form of literature. (His Essais were published in 1580, you can read them online.)
