The following “Observations” are excerpted from Chapter 2, We Humans,
from my “The Book of Observations.”
There are about 2,000 “Observations” in this book.
We are wonderfully complex and woefully ignorant creatures.
We always find time to eat.
We think we are old until we get older.
The stressed stress the unstressed.
Only the innocent and the foolish feel secure.
The impatient suffer every delay.
Honor is a rare bird.
We do not like to play games we are not good at.
Everyone schemes.
Most inferior are those who exploit the inferior.
We are not wise enough to comprehend the demands of the complexity in which we exist.
The less we are inconvenienced, the more we are apt to cooperate.
Television has made us watchers.
Our lives are etched on our faces.
Editors perform surgery on sentences.
We are quick to take credit, slow to assume responsibility.
Those intoxicated by drugs or beliefs are beyond reason.
The responsible carry the irresponsible.
“They took without giving back” will be the epitaph of humanity.
Perfectionists tinker with near-perfection.
Some can do but can’t teach; some can teach but can’t do.
We have a way of transforming tranquility into chaos.
Inadvertently, we create an underclass of criminals; deliberately, we punish them.
Holidays are good excuses to overeat.
Our irrationality is exceeded only by our belligerence.
Ignorance is compounded by stupidity.
For some, life is a contest to see who can eat the most.
Those who call the shots get shot at.
Strangers can become family; family can become strangers.
There are those who want to be and those who become.
Even the fool who remains silent is not thought a fool.
We weep for what we might be.
Criticism pierces thin skin.
Food attracts friends.
Guilt shows.
The harsh violate the gentle.
We lament earthquake damage in one part of the
world as we quake the earth with artillery in others.
Typical outcomes do not result from atypical behavior.
The illusions of youth are dispelled by the realities of age.
We criticize others as though we are without fault.
Sex sells.
Everybody wants to get home.
Where there can be disagreement, there will be disagreement.
What is important to one will be insignificant to others.
The world is a thorn in the side of an idealist.
We are driven more by passion than by reason.
Marriage reveals flaws.
We are blind to what we are incapable of seeing.
We are deaf to what we are incapable of hearing.
We defend to the death even our own idiocy.