Hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out.
--Vaclav Havel
Spending a lot of time thinking about What I'm Going To Do with My Life. Running off to Japan is beginning to seem entirely too clean. Sure, it's nice to teach rural Japanese high school kids English, but doing so will not significantly improve their lives. It's not fufilling a need, so much as exposing them to a novelty.
Don't get me wrong, I've loved my Japanese class, I enjoyed my Ranma 1/2 project, and all that. But I want to be heading in a driection where I might possibly do some good. Maybe that includes going off to Japan and then getting a Ph.D. in Anthropology or something, but it may also mean taking some poli sci classes and finding my way into refugee law or public policy.
Sheesh. Enough of all that. It's not as thought the issue is pressing or weighty, but what else does one think about while confined to the indoors waiting for sunburn to heal?
Okay, now for a question that may actually be answered within the next two years: Why does the Netherlands wear orange uniforms when the colors on their flag are red, white, and blue? Anyone?
1 comment:
Because they are Orangemen, owing the independence of their country to William of Orange. One of the national slogans is Oranje boeven -- "Orange on top." This refers to the national flag, the top stripe of which was originally orange, but became red (I'm guessing) because of the unavalability of persistent orange dyes.
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