Monday 8 March 2010

PERCENTAGE CHANGE


PERCENTAGE CHANGE
London March 2010

3 comments:

  1. A Word on Statistics
    Out 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

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  2. 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

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