Wisdom worth sharing, words worth remembering.
As with real reading the ability to comprehend subtlety and complexity comes only with time and a lot of experience. If you don't adequately acquire those skills moving out into the real world of real people can actually become quite scary.
There are a lot of obstacles in the way of our understanding animal intelligence – not the least being that we can't even agree whether nonhuman species are conscious. We accept that chimps and dolphins experience awareness we like to think dogs and cats do. But what about mice and newts? What about a fly? Is anything going on there at all?
My own life has in some ways been a decades-long tour of the sibling experience. I have full sibs I have half-sibs and for a time I had step-sibs.
No one ever pretended that shopping for anything is a rational experience. If it were would there be Fluffernutter? Laceless sneakers? Porkpie hats? Would the Chia Pet even exist?
Toxins love to get you while you're young. Lead mercury secondhand smoke and sundry other environmental nasties do a lot more damage when tissue is immature vulnerable and growing than when it's mature and comparatively fixed.
A jellyfish is little more than a pulsating bell a tassel of trailing tentacles and a single digestive opening through which it both eats and excretes – as regrettable an example of economy of design as ever was.
The death of anti-gay hate speech is no doubt being hastened by the head-spinning speed with which gays as a group – to say nothing of gay marriage – are becoming an unremarkable and even quite traditional parts of American life.
The golden child may be the oldest one unless it's the youngest. It may be the toughest one unless it's the most sensitive. It's not even necessary that Mom and Dad have the same favorite – and typically they don't.
Paul McCartney had a baby when he was 61 Rod Stewart was 66 Rupert Murdoch was a stunning 72. Not only does that mean they'll have less stamina than the average dad that means they'll well check out a lot sooner too.
Spending $1 for a brand new house would feel very very good. Spending $1000 for a ham sandwich would feel very very bad. Spending $19000 for a small family car would feel well more or less right. But as with physical pain fiscal pain can depend on the individual and everyone has a different threshold.
It's far too much to say that effective hoping is the only – or even the biggest – part of what it takes to succeed. If 14% of business productivity can be attributed to hope that means 86% is dependent on raw talent fickle business cycles the quality of the product you're selling and often pure dumb luck.
Becoming food savvy is one thing but it's amazing how fast savvy turns to snooty and snooty leaves you preparing three-hour meals that break your budget and that the kids won't even eat.