Borderless (Analog #2)

by Eliot Peper

True love meant loving a person for who they actually were, not an imperfect mental construct, just as true protection required empowering people to defend themselves, not pretending that the dark side of human nature didn’t exist.

Mental acuity was most valuable when it was least accessible, and the best way to retain it was to treat every movement, every breath, every heartbeat, as a meditation.

Logic was important, but people put rationality on a pedestal. You didn’t change someone’s mind with a frontal assault, lobbing facts at them with an intellectual trebuchet. That was how you started a fight at a family Thanksgiving dinner. If you truly wanted to sway someone, you had to understand them first, figure out how they felt and why they felt it. Then you worked your way up from emotions and values to beliefs and points of view.

Secrets shared could be more valuable than secrets held.

trust was the currency of life.