Sunday, August 18, 2013

A Voyage to the Center of the Self

This post was intended to provide introspection, and we had lined up a guest author. As our luck of the Irish would have it, this did not come to pass.

The backup plan was to write something nice about our favorite Western European Interior Secretary performing self-discovery. We failed to detect even a hint of self-discovery.

The backup of the backup plan was to write about German physicians' reluctance to prescribe any medication that might be habit forming. It may sound like a parody, but they exist around here: doctors sternly explaining to a terminal cancer patient that morphine is out of the question because he could get addicted to it before his demise within a fortnight.

This was scuttled by the realization that life itself is habit forming in a big way. Should we instead talk about the German job center employee who told a friend that his attitude to work was a quest of self-discovery and thus inappropriate in real working life?

Let's just take the easy way out: If you experience a sudden desire to embark on a journey of self-discovery, here is a 12-step program to try. Americans are fond of their numerous and varied 12-step programs where most Europeans are still stuck on the three step program ladder, such as finding work in three easy steps, or buying a used car in three easy steps, or three easy steps to success.

Speaking of discovery, did you discover our usage of the phrase "come to pass" in several of our recent posts? This is a direct result of reading Mark Twain's remarks about the Mormon bible in his book "Roughing It". You may rest assured that our liberal use of "come to pass" will eventually pass.

[Update 6/15]  Soothed out several sentences in a quest to make sense of an odd post.

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