The following “Observations” are excerpted from Chapter 2, We Humans,
Rules require revision.
The extremist seeks
dominance, not dialogue.
The wealthy do not know
the trials of the poor.
The young speak of graduating;
the old discuss dying.
Those with food do not fear hunger.
Uncertainty is unsettling.
We are fallible,
possibly fatally.
Money motivates.
We love to be entertained.
There is a dearth of common sense.
Passion is mindless.
Scholars love to dissect
each other’s words.
The heart has a mind
the brain knows nothing about.
The wider the perspective,
the more proportionate the response.
To harm another
is to rape your soul.
Unnecessarily loud voices
trumpet insecurity.
We are ill-equipped for redundancy.
We need to be needed.
Wisdom costs.
People are more interested
in their story than yours.
Seeds of truth we plant may blossom
at other times and other places.
The intellect is no match
for the emotions.
The healthy do not know
the suffering of the sick.
To know the world’s sorrows
is to carry a burden.
We all grow old.
We are prisoners of our habits.
We never grow tired
of happy endings.
Wisdom is found
in the streets.
People both fear and delight
in change.
Some destroy;
others restore.
The like-minded
fortify each other.
There are many forms of prostitution.
Too late we learn
what is important.
We all have our
beauty marks and blemishes.
We are so similar
and so different.
We never know
how young we are.
We all need advice.
Without incentive,
there is no motivation.
Principle can be a treacherous platform
on which to stand.
Somewhere between order and disorder
exists sanity.
The usual things that aren’t
supposed to matter usually do.
There can be no pleasure in an effort
overshadowed by its outcome.
Too much of anything doesn’t work.
We do what we do because
we believe what we believe.
We view others from our limited perspective,
judge them by our biased criteria.
Words are powerful.
Prodigious are the fruits
of a fertile mind.
Such confusion over power,
profit, and progress.
The married seek divorce;
the divorced seek marriage.
There is great temptation
to judge indiscriminately.