So Close, Yet So Far Apart--Stopping the Abuse of Others is a book that shares the cardinal eight powerful, yet simple ways we can apply today to begin handling difficult challenges, such as tyrants' lust of power, religious gurus' destructive views, human idiosyncrasies, illiteracy, and poverty to make life meaningful. It discusses the principle of--different realities-so that we can understand, accept, and respect other people, cultures, and religions. Author Syed H. Jaffar also points out the profound similarities in each major religion[s golden rule which asks people to put greater emphasis on doing good deeds toward fellow human beings than on worshipping God. This profound resemblance among religions and our shared ancestor--Abraham--should make us so close, says Jaffar, yet, because of the calamity of the abuse of others, we have become so far apart. Once we have truly earned the right to be counted among great human beings as depicted in The Life Model, Jaffar affirms, the love we feel for people, the respect we have for other cultures and religions, and the compassion we have for our own religion's uniqueness will increase dramatically. Hence, we will gain inner and lasting peace for our ultimate goal of treasuring life.

Just when things couldn't get any better... Karmakat has settled into a life with his mate and adopted family, wanting for nothing more than a normal life. As normal as it can be for someone in his situation, anyways. Then something changes. Can the hope of a new future mend a soul torn apart by its past? The story of our group continues as they face new trials, encounter new situations and uncover revelations about old enemies and their own legacies.

When one is fated for death from the moment of birth, it can make life... difficult. Karmakat is a black lion, a death sentence in itself, because it means there is a demon sharing his soul. A monk passing through rescues the infant and magically seals the demon. Spending their lives training together, the young lion follows in his master's footsteps - until the master's death at the hands of a vicious demon. Striking out on his own, following what he believes to be his destiny, he fights the demons alone. Protecting others as his master protected him. One day he rescues a model - a playboy wolf named Lukwos - who befriends the lone fighter. Teaming up, the pair travel a dangerous road as the demons they fight become more vicious and abundant every day. Lukwos encourages Karmakat to find a life beyond demon fighting, beyond the solitary existence he has known since the master's death. Can he bring himself to put another life in danger, fighting the darkness and what lurks behind it?

Growing up Derek Evans was a good student and athlete in a middle-class suburban area in southeastern Pennsylvania. The future looked bright for Derek. After waking up from a nap during his shift as a life guard at the age of seventeen, everything changed. After months of not feeling right and several doctors' visits, it was determined that Derek was beginning to suffer from a dysautonoima disorder called Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (P.O.T.S.). P.O.T.S., sometimes referred to as an invisible illness, is a very unknown yet destabilizing and bizarre syndrome. Derek's next 8 years became a health roller coaster ride amid remission, relapses, emergency room and doctors' visits, and several different medications. Despite all this, Derek managed to keep his illness a secret from almost everyone, in fear of being judged and not understood. In October of 2016, Derek worked as an Assistant Branch Manager at Hertz Rent -A- Car. He collapsed inside a body shop during a sales call and woke up in an ambulance being transported to the hospital. After this life changing incident, Derek decided enough was enough and was determined to make major changes. Besides a new career, Derek found a passion to let the truth out about his illness. It was time to bring awareness. In this book, you will find the story of Derek's battle with P.O.T.S. as well as interviews with mothers of children with P.O.T.S., doctors' opinions on the illness, and stories of many others suffering from P.O.T.S. You will begin to see life from the eyes of a person suffering from the invisible illness, Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome. Although over one million people worldwide have been diagnosed, there is still little known about P.O.T.S. What is known by those who have it, is at times, they feel like they are so close to dying, yet told they are so far away.

This book is a collection of poems written on napkins and in notebooks. In a way, the poems wrote themselves. The poems were written as a way of maintaining my mental balance and as a means of exercising frustrated desires. I have indulged myself in considering loves lost. Then I would amuse myself with a poem or two written in a humorous vein. Some poems are dark, and others are lighthearted. It is hoped that the enclosed poems will provide the same mood-changing service for the reader as they have provided to your author.