Simple things.

Perhaps I'm not destined to be one of the great minds of the world. Perhaps I'll never be one of the great beauties. Perhaps I'm too human to be anyone's measure of morality.

But.

I think it's time to set some things straight about me.

1) I love lambs, puppies, and babies.

2) I hate war, torture, violence, and the abuse of power.

3) I mean well and try my best. Nearly every minute of the day.

4) I am a patient person. And if you think that I love you, despite your flaws, then I probably do.

All that being said. I do occasionally get overwhelmed at the enormity of the problems that surround me. I'm in that moment, so please be gentle.

Not for the faint of heart, nor for the grieving.

As part of my daily blog rounds, I stopped by here and saw this.

If for any reason you've recently said to yourself, "Ya know, I haven't had myself a good cry in awhile." And you're looking for something to put you in that nice, cathartic place for awhile, then there you go.

I couldn't really look at them. But took note of the beauty and sadness of these before and afters. The interviews put them over the top.

They remind me of the practice of creating death masks. While death masks were a mark of wealth or celebrity, these portraits are quite different. The practice of death masks was in large part to record identity. These photos- on the other hand- remind me that there is a marked difference of identity and features before and after death.

Wow, I'm such a downer today.