Citizen & Law

If you wish to know
How many of our citizens
Feel that they are above the law
Drive the speed limit and count
How many of them pass you.
05.01.12

Attitudes & World

As concerned, private citizens
We should spend more time and effort
Trying to change our attitudes than our world.
04.30.12

HIstory & Lies

Our greatest historic movements
Sometimes end up becoming
Our greatest lies.
04.29.12

Noun & Use

The most used
And the most useful noun
In all languages
Is God.
04.28.12

Over-regulation & Stagnation

Over-regulation

Engenders inefficiency

Which slows everything down

Until the system is mired in stagnation.
04.27.12

Time & Change

Time
A human invention
Measures speed of change;
When change is rapid, time flies
When change is slow, time snails and
When there is no change, there is no time;
The scientific formula: velocity = distance/time
In essence means velocity = change/time.
04.26.12

Regulation & Stagnation

Overregulation
Engenders inefficiency
Which slows everything down
Until the system is mired in stagnation.
04.27.12

Luxuries & Rights

We adopt luxuries like we adopt children
And when we believe that they are ours to keep
We feel that our rights have been usurped
If they are taken away form us.
04.25.12

Pleasures & Death

When all our pleasures
Are taken away from us
Death becomes our hope.
04.24.12

Preparation & Age

Growing up 
Schools prepare us for life
Churches prepare us for death
But nobody prepares us for old age.
04.23.12

Trust & Betrayal

The longer we live
The more betrayals we sustain
And the less we’re willing to trust;
But then, when infirm and dependent
Re-trusting becomes our only option.
04.22.12

Truths & Times

Many of the truths we hold today
Will be disproven by tomorrow;
The wise temper their beliefs
To the available evidence
And change their minds
With change of times.
04.21.12

Rational & Irrational

Thinking that everyone is rational
Is our commonest irrational thought.
04.20.12

Heirarchy & Rule

Hierarchy is necessary
Its absence portends chaos
Its absolute rule, dictatorship
Its incompetent rule, democracy.
04.19.12

Healthcare & Charlatans

The healthcare industry is littered with charlatans;
To find out if your healthcare provider is a charlatan
Or if his ‘natural’ pills are helpful and not harmful
Ask for the published, supporting evidence
And give it to a scientist to examine it.
04.18.12

Addictions & Progress

In contrast to the peaceful realms of spirit
Addictions multiply with progress and technology;
We must now add to our lists of biological addictions
Communication addictions through Internet, pads, phones
Travel addictions through cars, trains, ships, airplanes
And media addictions through news, shows, movies.
It is these addictions that make us masquerade as modern
And it is their absence that marks us as old-fashioned.
04.17.10

Desires & Passions

Without desires there are no passions
And without passions there are no actions;
Desires are constitutional and they control us
Especially when we think that we control them.
04.16.12

Learning & Humility

Learning at all times
From everyone and everything
No matter how simple and insignificant
Takes the humble, prepared mind
Of an inveterate student
Of life.
04.15.12

Technology & Side Effects

Technology
Has hidden side effects;
Some are good and some, adverse
And they remain unknowable and invisible
Until revealed by widespread application.
04.14.12

Trust & Betrayal

We trust
And a few betray us;
We betray
And many still trust us;
For we have thus evolved
Because without blind trust
Communities cannot thrive.
04.13.12

Life & Mind

Nations
Have long lives
And short minds.
04.12.12

Health & Charlatans

Health-care charlatans repudiate
Evidence-based medicine and scientific studies
And when asked to show their own evidence to scientists
They make accusations of discrimination then turn and run away.
o4.11.12

Humility & Hubris

Conflicts arise from the hubris of:
“How dare you think differently?”
Compassion arises from the humility of:
“I can understand your point of view
When I put myself inside your skin.”
04.10.12

Excess & Success

Moderation is so rare;
Most of us compete in excess
And call it success.
04.09.12

Details & Life

A life smothered by details
Leaves less time for living.
04.08.12

Power & Aggression

Whoever acquires power
Under the pretext of self-defense
Ends up using it for aggression
Under the pretext of self-defense.
04.05.12
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) in Beyond Good and Evil says:
A living thing seeks above all to discharge its strength.
Life itself is will to power; self-preservation is only
one of the indirect and most frequent results.

Taming & Peace

Whoever tames human nature
Will bring peace to our planet;
Hitherto
All religions
All ideologies
And all military powers
Have dismally failed.
04.04.12

Ideologies & Endurance

Ideologies
That do not evolve
Become obsolete symbols.
04.03.12

Aging & Reluctance

Aging can be slowed but not stopped;
It might even lose a few battles
But it always wins the war;
To age gracefully is wiser
Than to age reluctantly.
04.02.12

Hubris & Humility

Nations, peoples, and groups
With more hubris than humility
Will be ridiculed by history.
04.01.12