“An acquaintance who worked in United States Air Force intelligence tells the story of a pilot who was imprisoned in North Vietnam for many years, and lost eighty pounds and much of his health in a jungle camp. When he was released, one of the first things he asked for was to play a game of golf. To the great astonishment of his fellow officers he played a superb game, despite his emaciated condition. To their inquiries he replied that every day of his imprisonment he imagined himself playing eighteen holes, carefully choosing his clubs and approach and systematically varying the course. This discipline not only helped preserve his sanity, but apparently also kept his physical skills intact.”

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Flow [though if I spent every day imagining myself playing what passes for golf in my life I assure you it would not help preserve what passes for sanity in it]

In my latest Epoch Times column I say surprising allies in the fight against bloated government could be the large number of people who find working in it miserable despite the pay and perks.

“Here we get closer still to the heart of the great human mystery. Nothing has been learned. The same people who made this catastrophic mistake recommend the same policies toward each new threat, as it arises; and the principle of appeasement is alive and well throughout the modern successor to the League of Nations.”

End of David Warren’s “Sunday Spectator” column in Ottawa Citizen Oct. 20, 2002 [specifically re dealing with North Korea]

“A general learns lessons. I’m not sure that a politician does. Or that a people does.”

Maj.-Gen Chris Vokes, My Story

In my latest Epoch Times column I say the failure of our governments to mention the hordes of mysterious Chinese spy balloons cruising around doesn’t inspire confidence in their handling of the issue.

“my own resolve is at rock bottom, believing the best that can happen to me is to be wounded, since becoming wounded or killed is a certainty. I find comfort in an honest belief that may be God-given, that no matter how bad things are, they can always get worse. This I firmly belief, and often repeat it to others. It seems to give me some strength. And I have developed faith in the beatitude ‘The meek shall inherit the earth.’ While this doesn’t seem to apply in civilian life, many a meek man displays the fortitude and resolve to carry on here, while many a swashbuckler finds the first way out.”

Bob Suckling, a platoon commander with the RCR at Verrières Ridge, who had just found his batman dead from concussion without a mark on his body and had a lance-corporal shoot himself in the foot right under his nose, quoted in George Blackburn The Guns of Normandy

In my latest Epoch Times column I say it’s actually good news that about two-thirds of Canadians in a poll said they think “everything is broken in this country right now” because we still expect better and have not spiraled into rage, paranoia or, worst of all, resignation.

“the aim of studying history is not to forget its lessons when occasion arises for its practical application, or to decide that the present situation is different after all, and that therefore its old eternal truths are no longer applicable; no, the purpose of studying history is precisely its lesson for the present. The man who cannot do this must not conceive of himself as a political leader; in reality he is a shallow, though usually very conceited, fool, and no amount of good will can excuse his practical incapacity.”

You may hate me for this one, and I did hesitate before posting it, because the source is Adolf Hitler in Mein Kampf. But it remains true even if the person who said it was evil.