But why do we cleave the world into black and white, right and wrong, PhD or NIE? Surely there are vast territories in between, perhaps even oases of happiness? Surely they aren't polar opposites anyway. Talking to my mom last night, I ask her if reliquinshing my opportunity here isn't somehow a sin of omission, potential unfulfilled, and she points out most correctly that we are all (especially us) multi-talented creatures and that there are many ways for us to become what we can be. So maybe it's not a clean dichotomy. And maybe we really are very hard on ourselves, and I would prefer not to be because I bruise easily and would like to not spend my whole life nursing wounds.