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~*~*~*CHAPTER TEN IS UP!!!*~*~*~

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About time I changed this, isn't it?

Well, for the Holiday season I will say just this... It is perhaps my favorite poem of all time, and althought it technically talks of Christmas, its reach is worldwide and across all boundaries...

~**~_~**~_~**~

I HEARD THE BELLS ON CHRISTMAS DAY
By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

I heard the bells on Christmas day,
Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on Earth, good will to men.

I thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along th' unbroken song
Of peace on Earth, good will to men.

And in despair I bowed my head
"There is no peace on Earth," I said,
"For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on Earth, good will to men."

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
"God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail
With peace on Earth, good will to men."

Till ringing, singing on its way
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime, a chant sublime
Of peace on Earth, good will to men.

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HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!!! Happy Belated Hannukah, Merry Christmas, Happy Kwaanza, Happy Belated Ramadaan, Happy... Erm... Winter Solstice, I don't remember the proper name of the holiday. Happy New Year!

I'm going to repeat some of last year's maessage, because I like what I said...

And what a beginning it was... What an end it was... What a year it has been...

The battle is not over... We have a long, hard road ahead of us, we always will, for such is this world... Evil will always be among us, as it always has been, it regains power once in a while, shakes the foundations of all our own respective worlds, breaks hearts, purges the world in catharsis, and terrorizes our very being, and then, as it always has and always will, crumbles at our feet. And so, now and again it slips into the shadows, unseen in many parts of the world, as it slinks, barely visible, waiting for its return to power, wherever the human spirit is oppressed, wherever the heart is broken, wherever humanity is denied to humanity itself.

Such is the cycle of life, such is the human journey, such is our world. Our challenge as human beings, and especially as the youth of this world, is to create a better world for our posterity than was created for us, to rise above the evils of the world, and find ourselves the better.

In this brave, new world, in this new era of the passage of mankind, we are all in it together with every one of our fellow man, bound to each other by our blood, by the writing in the stars, by fate and God itself, for better or for worse. We need to remember that. But we also need to remember that the sun always rises, there will always be tomorrow, a new day and a new chance will always come, and the world will never stop turning. As long as we hold on to our dreams, as long as we hold onto our hopes, our loves, our humanity, even if its hold is only in its emotions, we will see the morning... We will see a better world... As long as we remember and never forget... As long as we stay true to ourselves and each other... As long as we hold onto our hearts, to our dreams, to our hopes... As long as we are human beings...

With that in mind, I wish for all of you and for the world entire that 2003 will be a year of healing, of remembrance, and of happiness... God bless us all.

::kisses each Riddle on the cheek at midnight::
Naralina

Aenigma Aeturnus!