Stay or Leave
This book is an attempt to help us out of our inertia. We may be seeking permission to do something we’ve been longing to do for a while, and hope that a book might provide us with legitimacy. But there may also be cases where the idea of leaving, clearly delineated, provokes disagreement and a fresh appetite for hope and commitment. The best way for us to discover our own taste may be to see what we agree with here and what might provoke spontaneous cries of protest. After reading this book, we may decide that we do want to stay. Or we may discover that we must have a conversation to end matters in the coming days. Whichever way it goes, what we can hope for above all is resolution. We cannot continue in painful ambivalence indefinitely: we need either to recommit to love (in some form or other) or to abandon it with kindness. At best, either we will stay and now have some firm reasons for doing so, or we will leave, but with a minimum of doubt and a cap on our regrets. This book is a tool that carries the promise of the clearer and less compromised future we deserve.