pop wisdom again

I read on a teenager's t-shirt today 'Hard work never killed anybody, but why take the risk?'

I am not a sourpuss: I get the joke, and under certain circumstances I can enjoy it too. But, professionally speaking and as a parent as well, I cannot but wonder that parents who buy their kids such things also come over to seek counsel about why those kids are becoming cussedly lazy...

voices around the world

I often reflect upon the ways the world has changed since the time our grandparents were young. Thanks to cheap telephone and internet connections, people are now talking across the globe in real time all the time. A lot of people have to do it for a living: think BPO and call-centre operatives. But it's not an unmixed blessing. If you know about international time differences, and how people's body clocks and schedules differ, I mean. So when I am chatting with someone across continents and oceans, I must factor in the reality that I might be sleepy after a hard day, whereas s/he might still be groggy, having just woken up with a hangover, or wisps of a bad dream still not wholly cleared away, or just facing the prospect of another long working day ahead. Besides, one might be in a depressed mood while the other is feeling all chirpy and garrulous. Makes for a difficult situation, really, with chances of unfortunate misunderstandings galore... I leave it to your imagination, unless you have been a victim already, in which case you know, and you have my sympathies. I at least can afford to talk only to people who, I can more or less trust, like me and seriously want to talk to me. God's mercy on those who have to do it with uninterested and often irate strangers, day in and day out, to earn their living... 

Grace

'Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive', wrote the poet, describing the initial euphoria generated by the French Revolution, 'but to be young was very heaven'.

Well, to feel that kind of occasional exultation, you don't need to wake up at dawn, you don't need revolutions, nor to be among large crowds, nor even to be young. All you need is God's grace. And the luckiest among us are those who are showered with such grace now and then.

about an out of the ordinary mule

Read this most unusual article. I found it enchanting and deeply reassuring to know that even in this day and age, some people are wise and observant enough to think and feel like this. Do let me know about your reactions.