"It's hard", is an all too common way to blankly dismiss what must be done. Opine - to express an opinion, o-pine - a reverence for the long coveted mystery whispered by old pines with the wind combing through their needles. I saw so many cedar and pine boughs downed by the uncommonly heavy snows coupled with the winds a few weeks ago in the DC region. Branches who hadn't felt the weight of 45" of snow in our history. When I was walking with my fellow traveler yesterday morning, seeing ourselves among the trees and the river roaring below, smelling and feeling the river's wetness, recalling the pungency of being human, I began to realize how disconnected it is so easy to get. The rest of my upcoming week was going to be completely disconnected, a week confined to a hotel in the downtown of Chicago, of flights crammed with apprehensive passengers, and I began to recall that every day I have to keep watching for all the small wonders that I can be so good a...