Today at 7:13 AM IT TAKES ONE TO KNOW ONE ************************************* Some of my critics take pleasure in the knowledge that I am a failure and a loser. To them I say, that may well be why I understand the nation. * FANS *************** It is true that our leaders have their share of admirers. But then so did Nero, Genghis Khan, Hitler, Stalin, Nixon, and Reagan. * LAWYERS AND POLITICIANS **************************************** Can you finish the following sentence? “If the world is in deep shit today it’s because…” * Q ********* Is it possible that I am the only one who thinks the world would have been a better place without Elvis and the Beatles? * Q/A ************ What will happen next? That which you least expect it. # RAFFI'S WARNING AND CHARENTS'S MESSAGE ************************* To prove to a visiting Venetian painter what the neck of a beheaded man really looks like, Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, also known as the Lawgiver, had a prisoner brought before him and beheaded. It is said that the Venetian painter (one of the Bellini brothers) was so shocked by the bloody spectacle that he left that same night under cover of darkness. That is the difference between that Venetian painter and us. The Venetian left. We stayed We stayed even after Raffi warned us the Ottoman Empire was no place for us because Turks had no respect for human life. We ignored Raffi's warning in the 19th century as we ignore today Charents's final message concerning our “salvation.” By “we” I mean less the people and more the leaders who speechify during the day about survival and turn into gravediggers under cover of darkness at night. # We are few. We are weak. We are vulnerable. Therefore, we are divided. Which is like saying: “I think. Therefore I am not.” # DISAPPOINTMENTS ************************************ What is life if not an endless series of disappointments? A monster of human frailties, my ambition was to achieve perfection. I wanted to be the wealthiest man on earth but never made more than minimum wage with many intervals of unemployment. As a writer I have failed again and again to convince my readers that the smartest man in business may be an idiot in politics; in the same way that the loveliest woman in the world worshipped from a distance may be no better than a living corpse – all because man is not yet equipped to tell the difference between love and lust. You want to know more about the human condition? Take a good look at yourself in the mirror. # ON UNDERSTANDING ********************************** You want to develop your understanding? Teach yourself to view things through alien eyes including your worst enemy. * Don’t speak of your problems to a friend unless of course you want to make him happy. I remember once, many years ago, when I mentioned a problem to a co-worker – a cute little blonde – she cut me off with the words: “I’ve got problems of my own.” * Wisdom can be found in the most unlikely places. * When I speak of a nation I mean of course its leaders and their dupes. The average law-abiding citizen may not be as smart as his political leaders, but he will be more honest. * Socrates is right: one can guess how honest a man by his income. #