An English Journey

I soothe myself by having a warm and mind-refreshing bath. Far from agitation and disturbance , far from annoyances and other niggling thoughts, I do my own thing. Sometimes, especially in the past, I would feel as if I was an alien. Not now, not today, maybe not even anymore. I allow myself to take a deep breath, to exhale profoundly, to wander. All our senses are interlaced , tangled as a stiff and attracting spider web. However, I guess I would not be able to stand a hearing loss. I can now close my eyes, a skilful classical piece of music could do the trick when needed. This one is Beethoven’s Kreutzer Sonata, a masterpiece written for violin and piano. The A tonality is unable to unveil the minor character except for when it is essentially unavoidable , creating an increasing drama in each turn and twist.  A first movement full of energy and tragedy provokes the soul, awakening any hibernating creature. Then comes the energetic and invigorating se...

Life is perfect as it is, at least for people like me who seldom foresee a dismal and gloomy future. It is called having a positive attitude towards life. I called it a “Life Is Too Short” attitude. On the one hand, some individuals appear to be hardwired to love their own life whilst others seem to be prone to detest their existence. Consequently, attitude exerts a large influence on living life to the full .  There are, of course, people who occupy the middle ground and that is fine. The crux of life is the resourcefulness of living beings to overcome all manner of hard times, tragedies and misfortunes , though this should not lead the reader to think that creatures are always hardwired to thrive . Dinosaurs  died out millions of years ago and, according to the WWF, species as diverse as the Amur Leopard, the Mountain Gorilla or the Vaquita (the world’s most rare marine mammal) are on the edge of extinction. How can we pave the way for a prosperous and e...

“The poverty line ” is the official level supposedly needed to achieve a basic living standard. Updated by the World Bank in October 2015, the new figure of $1.90 was born as a more accurate approximation of the changing costs of living that people around the world need to cover. Governments may have been forced to resort to facts and figures to explain poverty, which I personally consider completely unnecessary (if not mere misleading information), but we should expect and demand effective action from our leaders. I would not go so far as to say that it is useless or impractical. In some way, statistics can offer some insight into the subject. And yet it is a proven fact that all the measures taken have been thus far incapable of triggering an upturn in wellness, especially in war-torn and famine-stricken countries. In my opinion, the problem arises when we eventually fall into a state of contentment . Mainstream media abounds with opinionated journalists c...