Category: Musings

We are all potentially exceptional

In The Times’ publication of an Op-Ed article (A Plea for Caution From Russia) in the paper of Thursday 12 September, by Vladimir Putin, president of Russia, I found this thought-provoking quote at the very end of the piece:

It is extremely dangerous to encourage people to see themselves as exceptional, whatever the motivation. There are big countries and small countries, rich and poor, those with long democratic traditions and those still finding their way to democracy.

To give further context, here is the rest of his words. I like to think that our being all different but equal is a universal truth, not an intention from a god.

Their policies differ, too. We are all different, but when we ask for the Lord’s blessings, we must not forget that God created us equal.

Matin d’automne, le chaud et le froid

La cime des arbres, encore habillés de feuilles orange, semble s’embraser sous les rayons puissants du clair soleil de ce matin d’automne. Un beau contraste que cet orange cuivré sur le fond bleu du ciel. Alors que le jardin, dans l’ombre, est encore blanc et mat et que l’herbe est transie dans la rosée gelée. Quelques feuilles orange tombent, virevoltent dans l’air figé. Leur chute une tâche de lumière dansante et puis elles disparaissent tout à fait et se posent à l’ombre froide.

Things for which I am grateful

Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate it!
Happy regular day to the rest!

My laptop acted up last night and today and what a prank it was for it to assess the disk corrupt, claim it can’t be fixed, and declare that reformatting and restoring from backup were in order. Turned out the disk got repaired and I tweeted I’m grateful for it:

This is the short-term gratefulness and there are other things I am deeply grateful for: I am healthy and literate in a country where life is good, I have a family of good people, I have a son whom I love from the bottom of my unfathomable heart, I live with his sweet father, I have a job I live for and colleagues who are kind, talented, dedicated, funny that I admire them. This is a fraction of the things I am grateful for. Today I thought about them, and I’m thankful.