2002-04-16 9:55

A parable on foreign affairs

A parable on foreign affairs

One of my mother's neighbours is Serbian. At the height of the Bosnian war he took to claiming, with a straight face, that Bosnian Muslims were shelling their own positions in an attempt to win sympathy from international observers.

Back in 1968 Tim Buckley could sing, with a poignancy to break your heart,

I'm not the one to tell
this whole world how to get along -
I only know that peace will come
after all the hate is gone.
["Dolphins", originally by Fred O'Neil, I think]

In those far-off days some of the more deluded hippies might actually have thought that was going to happen; the song has since acquired new levels of desolately bleak irony.

Never question the wisdom of little sisters

When I stayed with my little sister in Japan to avoid all the nonsense about the millenium I wanted to learn at least a little of the Japanese writing system so as to mitigate the bewildered helplessness I felt whenever I was left alone.

She had, and recommended, the book Kana can be easy, which I enjoyed learning from. It has many happy pictures. I like happy pictures.

When it was time to shop for myself, though, I bought a different book, seduced by its promises of revolutionary mnemonic methods. I should have known better - revolutionary mnemonic methods never work for me. They always rely on images so unlikely as to be unforgettable, and I always forget them in moments - sometimes even before they have formed.

Now I'm hoping to go back out again and see Japan in the summer - my little sister will be coming back before too long, so this could be my last chance - and now at last I have the book I should have had all along.

I just wish Amazon sold time and motivation, too.