Were it not for calamity,
How would the sun of Thy patience shine,
O Light of the worlds?

...as Ortega y Gasset, Merleau-Ponty, and the existentialists and phenomenologists of this century have pointed out, just being a man or woman and alive is enough to guarantee the world's meaningfulness, and we need not fear. On to any moment of perception–instantly, inevitably, and without bidding–the perspective of an entire cultural and biological heritage is brought to bear.

Our uprightness is in every tree,
rocks divide themselves
between the throwable and the not,
the future is always ahead.

The aluminum poles are cold, the cat warm, the plate clean. Really? Yes. These human facts reverberate with meanings that run deep into our personal yet common histories.