Meryl Yourish <103470.2703@compuserve.com> asks:
> In real life, the most difficult decisions we make are what house
> to buy in which town in which neighborhood, or what car do we
> want to get, or should I leave my current job and get another,
> maybe better one? Sometimes, we make extremely crucial
> decisions--there's a war on--should I enlist? It makes me wonder,
> though, that if Ivanova is a latent telepath, even only a P-1,
> would she sense the Shadows near Morden? Will you be bringing
> Talia back at some point in the future?

Thanks; no plans for Talia for the time being.

I agree with much of what you said. The unexamined life is a
real peril, and literature at its best can help us to avoid that trap
by asking uncomfortable questions.

I actually tend to think that the day-to-day questions can be
more central, more profound, than where to buy a house. Do you tell
your friend that his/her spouse is having an affair? Do you intervene
when you see someone on the street being mugged? Do you have an
abortion? Do you sacrifice buying the boat you always wanted so you
can put your kid through college?

At some point in our lives, we have to make a baseline decision
about whether our actions will be ethical, or convenient; do we do
right, or do we do wrong? Some may seem like small or unimportant
decisions, but each one made for the wrong reasons makes it easier for
the next bad decision to slip through.

Politicians tell us that we can find lives in which courage and
hard decisions are not necessary.

They are, of course, lying.

jms