Nothing wrong with pensive people. Pensive is good. Reminds me, I've had a few conversations with a friend lately about the saying that the examined life is not worth living. Like all truisms, it's both true and false. There's no question that George W could benefit from a more examined life--in fact, we would all benefit from that. But too many of us, me for example, examine our lives to death without actually doing anything. And I've known many people who think that examining your life is a laughably useless activity: some of them are louts, and some are among the finest people I've ever met. Why aren't there ever any easy answers?