It seemed impossible to arrange these essays by theme or subject matter, so I took the easy way out and chose to put them in chronological order. Actually, only the essays of "9/ll" need to be read by date written, for the sake of any changes in attitude toward the event and its perpetrators. We heard many times that our lives were changed forever that day, and that's surely true, but our perspective can change, too. If I were scholarly enough, I'd write about Abraham and his two sons, Ishmael and Isaac. What a rich topic! Thank goodness scholars have already been prolific on this topic, so I'll just stick to reading what they have to say.