| Presence (November 2002) She sits down on a curb beside a fast food restaurant and sinks her head into her hands and cries while people pass with food and drinks. I settle in beside her but pause before I speak, so I can attempt to figure out just what words would help her to understand that she possesses value that cannot be measured by some lout�s careless rejection of her heart, but it�s not what I say that counts; it is, instead, the fact that I am there beside her on the ground while the rest of the world goes by without pausing or slowing down. |