WEDNESDAY, 2 NOVEMBER 2005
11:16
Religion is closely linked to identity, and national pride is closely linked to identity. The protection of the source of identity is literally a matter of life and death. Wars are fought over religion, national pride and the protection of hearth and home. It can thus be said that war is intimately linked to identity.
11:20
Wars have been waged in the past for resources, land, prestige, adventure and the possibility of looting.
[15/11/10: War is waged by military and political leaders at the top, and by foot soldiers on the ground, and probably for different reasons.]
FRIDAY, 4 NOVEMBER 2005
Why is it important whether you are a middle-class intellectual or a working-class intellectual? Because it affects where you live, what you drive, where you and your family buy clothes, what kind of groceries you can afford, even where your children go to school (if you have children). It affects how you see yourself in the community where you live. If you position yourself in a middle-class environment but you cannot foot the proverbial bill, you will think of yourself as a failure, and you will most likely be viewed as one.
WEDNESDAY, 16 NOVEMBER 2005
No rational person can deny that we live in a grey world. But whether we see the world in shades of grey or black and white, decisions are never grey. This is the dilemma: making black-and-white decisions in a grey world.
SUNDAY, 20 NOVEMBER 2005
Have I become one of them? Them – who become restless when they are confined to their own company, who grow so fond of the companionship of a specific person that they come to need it, like oxygen.
* * *
To serve the cause of civilisation is a worthy and noble endeavour.
* * *
Our flesh and our consciousness last at most decades. Our bones, including the skull that houses our consciousness while life flows through our veins, might still exist a thousand years from now.
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