"Pity is one of the noblest emotions available to human beings; self-pity is possibly one of the most ignoble. Pity is the capacity to enter into the pain of another in order to do something about it; self-pity is an incapacity, a crippling emotional disease that severely distorts our perception of reality. Pity discovers the need in others for love and healing and then fashions speech and action that bring strength; self pity reduces the universe to a personal wound that is displayed as the proof of significance. Pity is adrenaline for the acts of mercy; self-pity is a narcotic that leaves addicts wasted and derelict." Eugene H. Peterson, Earth and Altar