Bad Time

Voltaire, when badgered on his deathbed and urged to renounce the devil, murmured that this was no time to be making enemies.

Un-Superstious

The Danish physicist and Nobelist Niels Bohr once hung a horseshoe over his doorway. Appalled friends exclaimed that surely he didn't put any trust in such pathetic superstition. "No, I don't," he replied with composure, "but apparently it works whether you believe it or not."

Mind You!

"Until you have done something for humanity you should be ashamed to die."

Horace Mann

Different Rules

We all still remember the times when parents told their kids to learn something "safe". Everybody was convinced that you could overcome life's pitfalls by becoming an accountant, a doctor, an architect or a lawyer. Currently we experience that this is no longer true. Computers - and soon all kind of roboters - will take over routine work. Creativity and other forms of right brain activity will get more and more important. In the end a versatile artist will be better off than a bookish clerk. No one puts it better than Daniel Pink, author of the book "A Whole New Mind".

Luxurious Taste

We tend to forget that in former times it was a privilege to be able go to a concert. Handel's, Mozart's and Beethoven's music was an exclusive luxury of the well-established classes. A peasant, a worker or a servant could not afford to hear a symphony, and probably never heard one. It may well be argued that the European idea of "high culture" has to do with that exclusivity. Many upper class members still regard classical music as their privilege and look down at the pop scene as something mondane, inferior and plebeian. It is difficult to judge music, but its very easy to use it as a status symbol.

Overcompensation

Today's Germans try hard to prove that they don't deserve to be judged by the horrible crimes committed by Hitler Germany. This is why  most of them are sensitive to human rights and environment issues. Unfortunately this leads very often to moral hubris. Nowadays Germans are always ready to denounce other nations, e.g. those that still think nuclear energy is safe, seem to mistreat minorities or animals, drill for oil, permit the free sale of weapons etc. Lately they even scolded Jews and Muslims for their religious rites. Overcompensating their guilt complex and their historical trauma these "good Germans" tell the world how to behave decently. Again they suggest that they are better than the rest. I'm very doubtful that this is the way to achieve what my they long for most fervently: To be forgiven that they are German and to be loved at long last.

On Death

"We are going to die, and that makes us the lucky ones. Most people are never going to die because they are never going to be born."

Richard Dawkins

Perseverance

In today's New York Times Patrick Healy reports that the "producer of the scandal-plagued musical "Rebecca" said on Wednesday that he would try to open the show later this year on Broadway, where a planned production fell apart this fall when several investors were revealed to be concoctions of a rainmaking middleman. The "Rebecca" producer, Ben Sprecher, said in an interview that he was optimistic that he would finally be able to raise all the money to mount the musical - in part because of the widespread publicity and notoriety surrounding the show after the fraud scheme was revealed. As a property 'Rebecca' is more valuable today than it was six months ago, through no fault of our own, Mr. Sprecher said. It's just so much more visible now.  This marks his fourth attempt to mount "Rebecca" - an earlier plan in London fell through, followed by attempts to open on Broadway last spring and again two months ago. Despite these delays, Mr. Sprecher said that the production's director, Michael Blakemore, and creative team were still on board for a Broadway outing." Ben obviously took John D. Rockefeller's advice to heart who said that there is not any other quality so essential to success of any kind as the quality of perseverance. My heroes are those who undauntedly get up on their feet again after each fall.

A New Start

What's so intriguing about a new year? Isn't it just a date like any other? It is (left brain). Nevertheless we can't help to imagine a clean slate and see another chance to get it right (right brain).

Palingenesis

[ˌpælɪnˈdʒɛnɪsɪs]

1. partial or complete regeneration.

2. the doctrine that a soul passes through several bodies in a series of rebirths. 

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