FREEDOM,

it feels good.

i just finished my philosophy culminating (all in one day!) and man that's a load off. now lookie, i still have the rest of the night left. :) thank you mom for letting me skip school so i could finish it at a decent hour, and not have to worry about getting only 3 hours of sleep for the next day.

now here's a passage from the book the culminating was on but i never read:
Sometimes we have to forego group approval and even accept rejection, if it should happen, in order to follow what the ancients called "scientia cordis," the science of the heart, which gives the inner strength to put truth, flowing from experience, over the need for approval. The science of the heart permits us to be vulnerable with others, not to fear them but to listen to them, to see their beauty and value, to understand them in all their fears, needs, and hopes, even to challenge them if need be. It permits us to accept other just as they are and to believe that they can grow to greater beauty. The mature heart does not seek to force belief on others; it does not seek to impose a faith. The mature heart listens for what another's heart is called to be. It no longer judges or condemns. It is a heart of forgiveness. Such a heart is a compassionate heart that sees the presence of God in others. It lets itself be led by them into unchartered land. It is the heart that calls us to grow, to change, to evolve, and to become more fully human.