PERCENTAGE CHANGE
London March 2010
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If you are reading Your Old Man Says for the first time, start at the beginning, and go back and read Five Stages. Chew that over for a while, and then you will have a better idea (or perhaps interest) in that fundamental question: Why? Click on the graphic above THANKS, ERIC
THE MIDLIFE CANOE CLUB
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LETTER FROM VIETNAM
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THE MUSIC IN MY HEART
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BINARY CODE
A novel by D Eric Pettigrew - Click on image to view Table Of Contents
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Posts
A Word on Statistics
ReplyDeleteOut of every hundred people,
. . . those who always know better:
fifty-two.
. . . Unsure of every step:
almost all the rest.
. . . Ready to help,
if it doesn't take long:
forty-nine.
. . . Always good,
because they cannot be otherwise:
four - well, maybe five.
. . . Able to admire without envy:
eighteen.
. . . Led to error
by youth (which passes):
sixty, plus or minus.
. . . Those not to be messed with:
four-and-forty.
. . . Living in constant fear
of someone or something:
seventy-seven.
. . . Capable of happiness:
twenty-some-odd at most.
. . . Harmless alone,
turning savage in crowds:
more than half, for sure.
. . . Cruel
when forced by circumstances:
it's better not to know,
not even approximately.
. . . Wise in hindsight:
not many more
than wise in foresight.
. . . Getting nothing out of life except things:
thirty
(though I would like to be wrong).
. . . Balled up in pain
and without a flashlight in the dark:
eighty-three, sooner or later.
. . . Those who are just:
quite a few, thirty-five.
. . . But if it takes effort to understand:
three.
. . . Worthy of empathy:
ninety-nine.
. . . Mortal:
one hundred out of one hundred -
a figure that has never varied yet.
- Wislawa Szymborska
Jamie
Great writing. There are lies, damn lies , and statistics. The truth rests somewhere amidst the calculations. I was once asked in a seminar at the bank ( a class of about 25 I would estimate): "Who here believes we are put on this earth to enjoy life?" My hand shot up....honestly. There were two others in the room. So maybe the twenty odd something capable of happiness looks a little high. We are all worthy of empathy, even the lowest of the low....that one who got left out. Un abrazo, ERIC
ReplyDeleteThanks for the post..
ReplyDeletepercentage change