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marcel proust (1871-1922): We fall in love for a smile, a look, a shoulder. That is enough; then, in the long hours of hope or sorrow, we fabricate a person, we compose a character. And when later on we see much of the beloved person, we can no longer, whatever the cruel reality that confronts us, strip off that good character, that nature of a woman who loves us, from the person who bestows that glance, bares that shoulder, than we can when she has grown old eliminate her youthful face from a person whom we have known since her girlhood....

It is not that we have so little time but that we lose so much. … The life we receive is not short but we make it so; we are not ill provided but use what we have wastefully. Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards. – Soren Kierkegaard [Man] is a specific organism of a specific nature that requires specific actions to sustain his life....

After reading the Rivonia 1964, you have to admire Mandela and how fortunate South Africa had Mandela at that time. Look at Gaza now. The terrorist attack by Hamas seemed such a desperate choice when there was no choice left. Will Israel stop its war against Hamas? Will both Israel and Palestine return to two-state solution? When Russia invaded Ukraine, US stands with Ukraine. When Israel invaded Palestine, US stands with Israel....

Rivonia 1964 from Rachael Meager. the speech from the dock in the Rivonia trial (1964) Long Walk to Freedom (1994) Why Mandela and his comrades decided to pursue sabotage and other forms of political voilence? “I, and the others who started the organisation [Umkhonto], did so for two reasons. Firstly, we believed that as a result of Government policy, violence by the African people had become inevitable, and that unless responsible leadership was given to canalise and control the feelings of our people, there would be outbreaks of terrorism which would produce an intensity of bitterness and hostility between the various races of the country which is not produced even by war....

It’s been 15 days. On Oct 7, 2023, Hamas launched a terrorist attack against Israel. Then Israel began its retaliatory air strikes to Gaza and its war against Hamas. This war is complicated. Two things should be clear. Hamas’s attack to Israel is a terrorist one. Israel shut down water and electricity to Gaza, and bombed hospital and church. It is war crimes against civilians.