Without our words, the world is a single event.
“When I was young…” a tragedy begins.
“When we were young…” a hundred comedies begin.
Everything speeds into the past, or rushes into the future, depending on whether or not it is alive. Nothing more.
In sleep we make a common brotherhood.
At a traffic light: One man eats cereal, a woman gestures at her phone, another driver curls her lashes, another man stares at a crucifix. Then all separate.
Before I go to Africa, everyone assures me that I will be “changed.” Meaning that my humanity will be deepened by the inhabitants’ poverty and suffering, the soulfulness of their deprivation. Which is possible, but only for those who you know they will return to air conditioners and potable water. Sentimentality is a luxury item.
A veteran diplomat, three decades in Africa: “We create an idea of civil wars in the context of a country’s history, the power struggles of an emerging nation. But it usually comes down to three or four guys, and the fact that there are no ‘winner take all’ situations, ever.”
A venture capitalist invests, believing his objective is 100% true. Until it is not.
We seek the work that affirms why God put us on Earth. That will also affirm God.
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