Tag: social

“Esteban” (A portrait from the past)

“Esteban” oil -WM

Esteban is a Spaniard of Catalan mother and Andalusian father. He grew up in a small Catalan city. He came from Barcelona to Paris with dreams of journalistic glory as an envoy of a literary magazine. He had the great sensitivity of a writer but for success he lacked two basic qualities: education and money. In Barcelona, the magazine published his rubric a la Dear Abby which he surely handled well because he knew how to dig into life situations and his religious morality concorded with that … Read More

“Janek” (A portrait from the past)

ink drawing of Janek
“Janek” – ink – WM

Unfortunately I can’t give his family name even if, as readers will find out, it has an important place in history. Janek was born either in Westphalia like his parents or in France. He had some German blood, I am not sure from which side. In Polish he spoke correctly; in French, like a Frenchman. During the war, when he was 8 or 9 years old, his father sent him to the Hitlerjugend. Janek told me how the whippersnappers of his age sliced each other … Read More

Down the Ladder (Humorous Survey)

I’ve written about this topic previously. Now it comes to mind with a little twist.

There is a list of things I like but which have disappeared. The list could be longer if I remembered everything.

One of my preferred spots was Normandy with its cider. There was so much and it was so varied that it seemed eternal. Cider of every colour, alcohol content, sparkly, flat, sweet and dry. It was a poem just looking at the countless barrels resting in cool, dark cellars. Returning once for a cider … Read More

“Stupidity”

A few weeks ago on CNN or CBC I saw a program about Stupidity. As stupidity is not a scientific term, the topic had to be treated humorously, and concluded that even if we can recognize stupidity it is still hard to define.

Logically, the term should define intellectual below average limits. What makes it hard to define is that, in reality, human behaviour is not the fruit of intellectual ability only, but also of personality. So, a person not considered stupid can make stupid, meaning ‘wrong’ decisions due to … Read More

Justice / Injustice

Injustice is what angers us most. If we can do nothing about it, the anger turns against ourselves. Nothing is more harmful than helpless stress. Shared love is justice because both sides enjoy more or less equal satisfaction. Frustrated love joins the stress of injustice. A child’s love is not justice, it’s necessity. A parent’s love is an instinct. Social connections which form families, friends, neighbours, nations, are not based on justice but on reciprocal interest and/or competition. There cannot be justice in competition, only victory of the stronger. In … Read More