and another thing. just when i think the human race is absolutely doomed to stupidity and atrophy, with idiots running countries and morons causing their own destruction, i stumble across miracles that prove me wrong. these miracles can be simple daily acts of wonder that show me that the human spirit may not be so dead after all, or they can be extraordinary gifts bequeathed to us plebians and evoking feelings of tremendous awe and humility.

firstly, i dunno if i've mentioned this before, but there's this boy in my neighbourhood. sometimes when i'm walking atlas or jogging in the evening, i meet him along the way, walking his dog. he walks his tiny little Daschund, while his maid will be pushing his grandmother in her wheelchair. the way he walks (he bounces every step), that huge smile on his face and his happy tone when he talks to his dog, haha, it really catches me all the time. he has down's syndrome by the way. and everytime i see him, i just unconsciously break out into this huge silly grin and i think about the daily miracles that exist around us.

then, there are times where people of pure genius and brilliance pop up. like daniel tammet. go research on him to see the astounding things he does. then you, like me, will wonder WHAT ON EARTH brought a great mind like him here. then your next thought will be, what is the purpose then, of his appearance on earth. and after that, you might probably question, what is he like as a person? imagine what thoughts run through his mind, as he wakes up at 7am in the morning, brushes his teeth, walks to the nearby cafe for a coffee and steps into a pile of dog poop maybe. what about things like politics, love or magic, what does HE think about those? how does he react when he sees a 35-year-old stuck on a maths question?

and then you might probably come back to the thought about WHAT ON EARTH brought a great mind like him here. is he here to tell us about the limits of the human mind in interpreting various phenomena and warn us not to get cocky? after all, he's stumped quite a few 'experts'. maybe he's an anomaly in the world? some technical glitch occurs and, PLOP, a paragon of intelligence and brilliance surfaces in some hospital.

it amazes me to think that things like these occur in this world of materialism, violence, ignorance, indolence, delusion and stupidity. without them, we would be such a boring race.