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In the South Side Chicago neighborhood where I grew up, if one of the men on the block found himself stymied by City Hall bureaucracy, he would talk to Louie. I was never quite sure what Louie did for a living. Unlike the other men in the neighborhood, he drove off each day in a sleek Lincoln Continental, wore fancy clothes, sported a diamond pinky ring and always smelled of expensive (or at least obvious) aftershave.

My wife and I have found a great remedy for those times when life seems overwhelmingly stressful, our worries mount, and our inner resources seem depleted. We consider the birds of the air.