The Lonely Step Child

No other animal besides man feels so trapped by the body and is so willing to go to such extreme measures to escape from the shackels of it. Drug abuse, alcoholism, mysticism, meditation, yoga, horror films, even rollercoasters- all designed to take us out from where we are and place us somewhere else. It seems as if we'll do anything to get to something more than what we are. If I were a tree, and I could think, I somehow doubt it would ever cross my mind that I should fly. Dogs and cats have no need of drugs or paranormal experiences, and a monkey is perfectly happy in the trees and eating bananas. The problem is we are not of this world. We were made for something better, something deeper, something so much . . . grander. We are visitors in a foreign land, having been here so long that we've forgotten that we belong elsewhere. Like a boy raised in poverty but secretly descended from the king, we can't fathom our own fascination with castles and royalty and war- nor can we understand why we are so different from our step brothers and step sisters, who have no need of such things.