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have me go live with my father in the hope that he would provide more discipline.
    The result for Sharon and me, though, was that due to the difference in our ages, our parents’ divorce, and my juvenile delinquency, we never had a chance to get to know each other very well.
    That bothered me a lot when I was growing up. Especially after I moved away and began to realize how important family is. And I felt guilty. Guilty because my brothers and sisters spent several years in an orphanage, and I did not have to. And guilty because I had abused that privilege—so much so that I further broke up our already broken home.
    I went back to Louisville about once a year to visit while I was living with my father, and I went back more often after I was out on my own. But I was always very self-conscious when I went back. I had much in common with the divorced father who comes back and tries to force everything into what has commonly come to be known as “quality time.” But unlike the tentative, divorced father, I did not have to deal with children who withheld their affection because they resented me leaving them. To my knowledge, my brothers and sisters never blamed me for anything that had happened in our family. Quite the contrary. They always seemed glad to see me, and they never held back. Still, I always felt that I needed to make things up to them, so I was always trying, sometimes awkwardly, to do something special whenever I visited.
    My brothers and sisters are all grown up now. Sharon is married and has her own life: husband, daughter, son, career, the works. A lot of years have gone by. And all those years, I never knew what my brothers and sisters thought, if anything, of me and my visits and my efforts to do something special when I visited. Until I got this note from my little sister one Christmas:
Dear Mike,
     
I thought I’d share a special memory that I think about every year about this time. It was a long time ago... I don’t know how many years. It was one of the times you came down for Christmas. It was Christmas Eve as I remember, and we didn’t have a tree yet, and when you came in, we went and got one. It was the first time I ever got to help pick out a tree. I don’t remember if anyone else was with us or not. I just remember you and the tree. So every year when we’re going to get a tree, I get a special feeling and remember you on that Christmas Eve and that tree and I smile. Thanks.
     
Love,
Sharon
     
    That’s the note, and there’s not much else I want to say about it. Except that if there’s anybody out there in the world that you like and feel good about—and if there is any reason at all to suspect that they may not know how you feel—for God’s sake, tell them. I guarantee they’ll appreciate it.

 
The EcoSphere
     
    Hold the world in your hands. That’s what the advertisement for EcoSphere says.
    EcoSphere is a little glass ball. It really does fit in your hands. Inside the ball are several things: water, algae, bacteria, and some tiny shrimp. It is billed as “man’s first successful attempt to create a self-sustaining life system.”
    It’s actually a pretty interesting idea. Sunlight provides energy for the algae and bacteria. They, in turn, supply food and oxygen for the shrimp. The shrimp contribute by producing carbon dioxide and “wastes,” which keep the algae and bacteria alive. (Funny how the highest life form in most ecosystems ends up listing “wastes” among its major contributions.)
    Developing this little self - sustaining world was no easy task, I’m sure. Yet I find something kind of unsettling about the whole thing. Maybe it’s the fact that this little world was developed by scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab. You’d think that our top rocket scientists would have more important things to do.
    But on second thought, I can see where the delicate balance between creatures of the world would be of concern to any serious scientist.
    So it must be