Having finished my last post with a quote from Douglas Adams, I shall start this one with another:
We don’t have to save the world. The world is big enough to look after itself. What we have to be concerned about is whether or not the world we live in will be capable of sustaining us in it.
I’m strapped into my seat and the aircraft is sitting on the tarmac at the terminal, as it has been for over ten minutes. What is delaying our departure? A truck. The catering truck has delivered our simple refreshments and now it can’t be detached from the side of the aircraft. Engineers are on the way.
One myth I live by is that sport used to be sport – not politics or commerce or an opportunity to shame someone. Sport used not to be about technology but certainly about enjoyment – on the part of those participating and those watching.
It is the time of the signs that make no sense and of labels that beggar belief. A packet of Turkish delight sports the announcement: “60% less fat – and always has been”. A packet of biscuits proudly announces: “Still using our original 1897 recipe – now new and improved”.
“Whether you think you can, or that you can’t, you are usually right.” (Henry Ford)
There are very few people who truly believe they can do anything they set their minds to. Such people are so rare that they become the subject of news items, even whole TV series. They are sometimes labelled ‘heroes’ or ‘freaks’. We are thrilled by their achievements and delight in their failures. The thrill comes from our wishing we could do extraordinary things and the delight comes from wishing we could do extraordinary things.
“Do you, Dragon, take Donkey to be you lawfully wedded husband?” Children who watch films like Shrek or read fairy-tales or have them read to them are used to ‘odd’ pairings of people, animals and mythical creatures. And they accept the hybrid progeny that result.
No matter how much a person believes s/he lacks prejudice, there are very few people who would not, from time to time, find themselves surprised that a person they see or hear is able to do something unexpected. Expecting that someone will or will not do something is a form of prejudice – a prejudging of a situation. It may be the most benign form of prejudice, yet prejudice it is.
Trying to second-guess what people want to hear can lead one into a morass which grows ever deeper and murkier. Unfortunately, politicians and bureaucrats are doing this more and more and we are all the worse for it, including the politicians.
My human has left me out here, tied to a tree, while he is inside drinking coffee. I don’t like coffee – I tried some when he spilled it on the floor. Yuck! I do like tea when it’s cold, and milk and water.
Glass of red wine in hand, in a cosy café corner, I watch the rugged-up pedestrians scurry to their next distractions, where they can thaw out their ears and mop up their nasal exudations.