Very often people (usually men) tell me I am intense. I’ve never really understood what they mean by it, other than, at best, it is some kind of backhanded compliment. Today, as I sit in my room listening to someone else’s classical music, the sound of my washing machine, and the wind in the ornamental cherry tree, all I can think to say is that this last week of my life has been intense. I don’t know what I mean by that other than I am tired and exhausted, yet wouldn’t change it for all the world. All I want now, passionately, is for the world to change. This last week has been the strangest, most profound learning experience of my life. That I never knew I would come back feeling this way surprises me and saddens me more than I could have imagined. There are large gaps in my capacity
