Core.

It's an interesting word, isn't it? Not as fun to say as pith, but ultimately with the same meaning: the crux, the essence, the nub. I don't think it's coincidence that a very similar word - cuore - is Italian for 'heart.' I've been thinking a lot about what is in my core, what really makes me who I am, and what makes me tick - either to progress or stand still. It seems that as I have interacted with a vast array of different people in the past few months, I have heard of countless life-altering experiences. Courses in the history of art that changed the way one visually perceives everything in the world. Voyages to Africa that forever transformed the gratitude that one feels for things from possessions to health. I've found myself in conversations, telling of my own experiences and people have said, "Wow, that must have changed your life." Yes. That's my immediate response. But the question is, has it really? Or was it only a temporary change? I suppose at this moment I am a sum of all of the experiences I have had and sought and every choice I've made. But I'm convinced that there's something more to changing than simply passing through an experience and then moving on with life. Or am I wrong? Perhaps. All I know is that someone has apparently left his cruel core behind. Maybe he's left his core behind entirely. Or maybe it never existed.