"In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends." ~ Martin Luther King, Jr. it was never my intent to give silence sovereignty, dominion over my kingdom hub. nor did I mean to gather self-pity and lay it about, a moat to the castle of my heart. I assigned no consequence, gave no thought to the betrayal my quiescence would become to those who had constructed— in dedicated manner— majestic tower rooms, placed at loving heights distinctly for my solace, if ever I had need of them. but know also, that I did not wish to place a strain upon the unstinting love proffered me— friendships nurtured through years that exist now only in memory— by tendering the account of my trials as they occurred. I thought my tragedies best told in the sullen aftermath, when the sound of their relation would have come across as nothing more than muted noises to ears that were ringing with the livid memories of my misery. on...