My mother suffered a heart attack in 1960. At that time medical wisdom advised six weeks bed-rest and thereafter the avoidance of any strenuous exercise. This knowledge became a weapon in my mother’s hands and whenever my father failed to conform to any wish of importance to her she would suddenly ‘forget’ something on the [...]

This is the third in a series of aphorisms meant not to make a point but to stimulate the reader to reflect on their relevance as well as observe his or her own reactions to them:
Feeling pleased with your work is not a basis for doing good work. It is an artifact.
Conditioned behavior most often [...]

A friend of many years, a German film director, in his late sixties visited with his wife for the weekend. He told about a recent film he made in Berlin. There was a legendary cameraman whom he thought was dead but discovered living in Berlin, now in his eighties and near-blind. He asked the man [...]

This is the second in series meant to stimulate thought and reflection. I do not necessarily consider all to be true and some are patently false.
Allow for delayed impact.
Understand time-lag in learning
No matter how altruistic one feels, acting from or inducing guilt is always and everywhere self-serving. Guilt assures conformity.
Shame and vanity are inseparable Shame [...]

Auto Motives
She called it ‘Rosy.’ Giving her car a name allowed it to have personality and gave her a feeling beyond the take-me-bring-me of daily life. It developed character as time past with breakdowns and repairs, but she developed an affectionate tolerance to the annoyances and inconveniences of poor shock absorbers and malalignment. Because she [...]