Words of wisdom come back to taunt us

It’s been quite a week. A U.S. “presidential” debate for the ages, COVID cases surging again in many countries, and now we learn that the president of the world’s richest and most powerful country has contracted the virus himself. This would be the virus that he has continually said will disappear soon, like a miracle, so let’s just get on with life as normal. The virus for which he’s given his handling a score of 10. The virus for which he’s said people don’t need to wear masks or socially distance, that’s just for wimps. Let’s just hope he hasn’t infected too many people himself in the past few days before his positive test. And let’s hope he is one of the seniors who’s lucky enough to survive this virus.

This bruising week has brought to mind a few thought-provoking quotes I encountered recently on one of my favourite blogs: News from Ibonoco. I enjoy this blog for a few reasons. Every day its readers are presented with a quote, poem, song lyrics, or short narrative that makes you think. Even better, the daily offerings are presented first in French and then English. For someone like me, who’s always looking for ways to improve my French, it’s a gift to be able to read the daily entrée in French, knowing that I can check the English version afterwards to see if I’ve really understood it. Merci, John Ibonoco.

I’m going to share two recent quotes from his blog (in English) and then add a third. I’m not sure if you’ll find it reassuring or not to know that great minds had these thoughts long before the world’s current woes. I’ll let you decide for yourself!

“He who despairs of the human condition is a coward, but he who has hope for it is a fool.”

Albert Camus (1913 – 1960) Writer and philosopher, 1957 Nobel Prize winner.

“Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods.”

Albert Einstein (1879 – 1955) Theoretical physicist, 1921 Nobel Prize winner.

And another from Albert Einstein that I just couldn’t resist:

“Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe.”