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Life is like a game of cards. The hand you are dealt is determinism; the way you play it is free will.
When my kids were small, there was often an argument brewing about things they didn’t want to do. I went through the same phase when I was their age I suppose, but not wanting to anger my mother, I would usually phrase it as can’t rather than wouldn’t, although I’m sure I was really saying…
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Ephemera
Ephemera. I love the word: it evokes the transience of everyday things. It is the plural of ephemeron, from the Greek neuter of ephēmeros, meaning ‘lasting only a day’. It reminds me of the poem ‘Dust of Snow’ by Robert Frost: The way a crow Shook down on me A dust of snow From a…
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Beware of jealousy: it is the green-eyed monster which doth mock the meat it feeds on
So, is the Evil Eye back, or has it always been there, albeit renamed and disguised? I mean sometimes a person may have a way of looking at me that is positively frightening or menacing, but is that what is meant by an Evil Eye? If I am unsure why they are staring, I can…
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This above all: to thine own self be true
It was my first year in University after what seemed like an eternity in high school. Glenn and I decided to room together, although I only knew him through friends. He seemed friendly enough, but I suppose I should have known better than to share accommodations with someone who preferred partying to studying; someone who…
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Every so often
Every so often, I wonder where I’ve been all these years; I thought I was a capable judge of actions as long as I understood something about their intent, something about their cause, and perhaps more importantly, something about their effect. I often think of laughter as a fairly reliable index: unless it is mocking…
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Life is a play in two acts: dependence and interdependence
There was once a time when I yearned for independence; when I got it, however, independence was too lonely, too risky and I felt vulnerable on the shaky pedestal I had constructed. I longed for those times when I had someone to lean on; someone to consult. Life is like that, though: it is based…
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Are you sure?
Sometimes I wonder if I am becoming a sceptic; I am unsure whether it should be spelled with a ‘c’ or a ‘k’, but that’s to be expected, I think: in an age where certainty is currency, doubt has become a radical act.[i] In a way, I think social media is to blame; it’s all too…
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Presume not that I am the thing I was.
There are fleeting moments when, far from becoming more clear, they shimmer with meaning not shape, appreciation not fact; they cease to be describable in numbers, or equations; the very fact of their existence is a revelation, a mystery: a glimpse just outside a border; an unrepeatable event, new each time it occurs… ‘It is …
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Bus-world
I travel a lot by bus now that I am retired; I enjoy the commotion, the accidently overheard conversations, and the interesting habits on display. It’s difficult to be lonely on a bus. I don’t notice everything, of course; some things slip under the radar because they are not unusual. How many elders are just…
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