It has been my strong, specific intent to send individual and personal thank-yous to each and every person who expressed sympathy to my family and/or myself over the recent passing of my father. I find that I cannot.

First, the wound is too deep for me to be able to revisit it more than briefly. I fear it will be like that for quite some time. I spent half an hour trying to word the very first response I sat down to write and found myself oddly incapable of putting down in words precisely what I felt.

Second, the volume of expressed support I received was seriously overwhelming. Know that I have read each and every single email, note and letter, often more than once. Rest assured that I have listened to every single message. And there have been well over a thousand. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.

For every expression made, I well know that there have been several felt by those who know that nothing can be said to one who has lost a family member. I have felt your empathy, as well, and thank you for that.

Know this: You have provided me comfort beyond any words that I can find in my heart to express. To learn that so many whom I personally know so little, if at all, have been touched enough by my work to feel the closeness and warmth I have received back from you ... well, it has been a profoundly moving and reassuring experience.

I can make the time to respond individually. I have the energy and willingness to do so. Somehow, though, emotionally I cannot bear to dwell in that space for anything like the time required to do what I consider to be the right thing.

I do not often apologize, but please forgive me for not responding to you - individually - as you deserve. Please accept this note as my heartfelt thanks for your thoughts, both expressed and unexpressed.

In the past day or so, I have begun to resume a somewhat normal (that is, outraged) viewpoint toward life, which inexorably grinds toward the climactic events that I firmly believe I have been delivered here at this time and place to observe and to report upon to you.

Meanwhile, please take the time to watch the following on-line video, entitled "When Will We Have Had Enough?" This short little gem from Billy Vegas is the single most brilliant I have seen lately in the arena of political commentary. It derives much of its punch from outtakes of a TV program's actor/lawyer's writer-scripted closing argument to an actor/jury (Boston Legal, the only TV program about lawyers since Perry Mason that I have been able to stomach). How odd that I, a "recovering lawyer," must look to a fictional lawyer to find something admirable related to the legal field. Trust me, you never will hear anything like this in a real courtroom:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P682rGIhZwI

If all you have is dialup Internet access, set your computer to download overnight - it is that worthy a morsel!

The video's author has other, similar videos (that suffer only by comparison with the one noted above) that he has put together and presents on his website, which I also commend to you:

http://www.puppetgov.com/first.html

-ed