Exiles, prophets and pilgrims

"At the end, we are all the exiles and the prophets and the pilgrims of our own life.  It seems, ironically, that those who leave the greatest impression and the most lasting legacy are those who live, not as though the world is a monument to ourselves, but rather an ocean tide against which we are fragile, vulnerable and ultimately luminous in our capricious and curious humanity."

Lexanne Hamilton, in an essay on Frederick Law Olmsted

Lexanne is the smartest woman in my class. She always has the most original perspective on things and delves more deeply into any subject that we touch upon in class. I love this quote, and it makes me think of Dad, who did live his life as though the world was an "ocean tide" against which he never failed to hang onto his luminous humanity. It is a fortuitous chance that I get to be in the same class with Lexanne, along with some other very talented students, from whom I have learned much, because I had to take a semester off in the summer. I am constantly reminded of Sebastian Faulk's motto: "La Vie s'arrange, mais autrement."