As the book is titled Threads of Understanding, so are we-each life a strand that, in total, forms a world population determined at any one time by a collection of censuses. Whether or not we know at any specific moment what that total might be, we estimate or are in flux with a rash of opinions. Much of our life in how and what we think are based on opinions to which we feel entitled that in turn have become fact. As many of our opinions are based on emotions, personal or that of family history, with values set accordingly, we hold them important; thus substantiating the influence they have to the here and now of our personal circle of circumstance. Perhaps opinionated fact would be a better term, for it abounds in about every social interaction we are faced to deal with. Yet for the most part, we seem to concur with the fact that life is too short, and whether or not William Shakespeare assembled those words in phrase of understanding similar, we continue to think and say in a myriad of ways those words some speculate originated back in the seventeenth century. Is life too short, or again is that an opinion to which most would classify as a fact? Challenging everyone to think beyond opinion, the intent of this book is to provide those threads of understanding to which reaches far beyond that of our emotions and senses. Shake the burden of discord we find of life and that of how we feel and think about ourselves and others. While religions and that of seeking perpetual days of happiness seem foremost to finding meaning in life, reading this book will hopefully bring you the understanding to change the norm and in fact given time change how we live with a new appreciation of life itself and the meaning for which was intended. Though living together, we are each on our own.