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I don’t know why the image came to my mind while I slept. I hadn’t seen the photo for years, but I immediately knew what it was.

We were somewhere in the Caribbean on a cruise. At sunset one evening, we were on an upper deck enjoying the colors and the wind and the waves. Someone offered to take a photo of us and snapped this impromptu image. And for some reason, my mind brought this old photo to my consciousness while I slept.

As I awakened — with this image burned brightly into my mind — I heard some words very clearly. In my sleepy state, I made a quick note on my iPhone:

“Nobody’s ever good enough if perfection is the standard.”

I knew what it meant. I also knew I would think about it a lot more later. But I felt a sense of peace about it as I went back to sleep. Something in my unconscious was trying — once again — to teach me a lesson. It wasn’t really about her, though. It was about me.

It was about my terror of not being perfect — and about how my fears have affected women who’ve tried to love me.

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Elon Musk can be an eccentric jerk. He can also be a visionary who leads companies to great achievements. He does things that people say can’t be done. But he’s not always honest or reasonable about it, as I see it.

Musk has been a wildly successful creator. He’s gotten stunningly wealthy by betting on himself. I like and admire some of the things he’s done. I detest many of his actions at other times. I don’t see how anybody can admire him completely or reject him completely.

But Musk is a polarizing figure. Some people seem to worship him. Others seem to hate everything about him. And now that he’s buying Twitter, a lot of people are projecting their deep biases about the man onto their opinions about the purchase.

But the most bizarre thing about public commentary about Musk — and other wealthy people at times — is that so many otherwise-reasonable people have strong feelings about what he should do with his money.

Every time I see someone criticize Musk — for his space ventures or for his latest plan to buy Twitter, for example — I always ask one simple question.

Why do you care what Elon Musk does with his own money?

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When we rescue animals, it’s just as likely that they’re going to rescue us. That’s been true for me over the years. I’ve had as many as five dogs and as many as 13 cats, but I’m down to just one dog, Lucy, and two cats, Merlin and Thomas. (Here’s their Instagram account.)

I found an amazing example of the power of animal influence earlier today. On Reddit, someone posted a letter he received from a neighbor. This person had asked the neighbor — an older man who lives alone — to babysit the family’s two dogs and a cat while the rest of the household was on vacation.

The person who received the letter described the animals as a German shepherd and a cat (named Oreo), along with “the crankiest little beagle you’ve ever seen in your life.” But this little collection of animals somehow changed the old man’s life.

I found the man’s story moving. The letter is long, but I’m going to quote the entire thing:

“This letter is regarding your vacation two weeks ago, and how you let me babysit Smokey, Oreo, and Jennifer. I’d just like to give you a letter of thanks.

“As you know, I’m an old man. You don’t see me outside often anymore, as these joints aren’t as lively as they used to be. To add to that, two years ago, in the midst of the pandemic, my dad got diagnosed with stage four colon cancer After his death, I was left alone in my home. I don’t have a wife or kids. I could go to sleep one day and never wake up again. Every day is spent just sitting around and wondering what I have done for this world.

“Until I met Smokey. Oreo, and Jennifer.

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