For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.
Earlier this week I had to fly down to KwaZulu-Natal to participate in the national standardisation of drama practicals. It was my first introduction to the Dramatic Arts examining panel, and they were – as can be expected – absolutely fabulous and thoroughly entertaining. On Monday night for dinner they elected to eat at a... Continue Reading →
I am not going to lie. I am a hardline cynic. Maybe I have been too jaded by experience, but I cannot look at the world and see it as basically good. I have no desire to stay forever young, nor to live any longer than I have to on this side of eternity. One... Continue Reading →
I am racist. It is not something a man likes to admit, but it is something that has to be acknowledged before it can be addressed. Now don’t get me wrong. It is not a question of hatred. I can love and embrace people of all different cultures and creeds. I respect people no matter... Continue Reading →
Some of those who know me well may see the irony in the fact that I am choosing to write a post on humility. Still, I think humility is a much underrated virtue, and one that seems largely to have been lost in the modern world, where it is misconstrued as weakness. Because capitalist society... Continue Reading →
A dear friend of mine recently posted this picture. I was immediately taken with it. Doesn’t it sum up the human condition so succinctly? Too often, like the pigeon in the picture, our limited minds seem incapable of comprehending a bigger picture; sometimes they are unwilling to concede that there even is one. We will... Continue Reading →
One of my pupils recently asked me to list my ten favourite books. It is an unfair question to ask an English teacher. I have read literally thousands of books and to ask me to narrow the list down to a mere ten seems a tad cruel. And what criteria should I use to make... Continue Reading →
Many Christians are content to adopt a live-and-let-live approach towards the Word of Faith movement. They see them as misguided but basically well-meaning (for example, read the thoughts of Eric Hyde, one of my favourite bloggers: https://ehyde.wordpress.com/2013/06/04/why-do-word-of-faith-christians-become-jaded/). I am not so understanding. I believe that Word of Faith preachers – Creflo Dollar, Joel Osteen and... Continue Reading →
We are often too quick to blame all social problems on systems: poverty is the result of capitalism; bigotry is the result of religion; economic or social problems are the result of a certain political party being in power; education is in crisis because we have the wrong curriculum or assessment strategy. I could go... Continue Reading →
Do we ever have the right to choose when we die? The issue of assisted suicide is topical in South Africa at the moment. On April 30th this year, Advocate Robin Stransham-Ford died only hours before the court granted his application for state assistance in ending his life, after a prolonged battle with cancer. Health... Continue Reading →
There are a few profound moments in the book The Lord of the Rings that were not included in Peter Jackson’s wonderful filmic depiction of the story. One is near the beginning of the novel, where the hobbits are protected from the Nazgul that hunt them by a band of migrating Elves. One of the... Continue Reading →
Vapors In The Wind 