I do not believe in hell, nor in the efficacy of war. I believe greed destroys and fear creates monsters where none exist.

I believe in humility, the resilience of the human heart, and the revelatory nature of our nightly dreams. I believe in Christmas as a time of remembrance and healing, and that what I see in the eyes of my cats is an innocence and afffection of which humans may be incapable. I believe in the ultimate reality of love.

I believe in emptying the dishwasher before going to bed, avoiding swimming with jellyfish, wearing deodorant and exercising until, finally, my body is too old and worn out to do so.

I believe I should spend some portion of each day in silence, and to find some way, every day, to express who I uniquely am–if not to someone else, at least to God, at least to myself.

I will never forget grief, and I believe saying "never" risks making a liar of myself.

Text and image © 2011 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.