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Showing posts from October, 2010

Let The Dogs Quit The Manger!

Many of the fables that have been credited to Aesop do infact date from well before the 5th century BC and modern scholarship doesn't give much credence to the idea that Aesop's Fables, as we now know them, were written by him at all. Accounts of Aesop's life are vague and date from long after his death. If he existed at all, it was as an editor of earlier Greek and Sumerian stones rather than as the writer of them. Though nothing written by Aesop now exists in any form one can go into any bookshop and buy, a copy of 'Aesop's Fables' and, for this book more than others is largely thanks to the invention of the movable type printing press. The infamous 'dog in a manger',who occupied the manger not because he wanted to eat the hay there but to prevent the other animals from doing so, is generally said to have been the invention of the Greek storyteller Aesop(circa 620-564BC). I came across the phrase,'dog in a manger' which rightly describes the a

World Sight Day --Is Blindness Better?

I once read about a man that was born blind, who seriously desired to use his eyes,for the first time, just like others. He was troubled and tormented by his curiosity to see and observe the so-much-spoken-about beautiful environment and world at large, including man and other created and man-made things that occupied it. His desire was to have a glimpse even if it means having a faint view or seeing with only one of his eyes. Imagine a man in such an unfortunate condition without the idea of when there will be a change in the status quo! Miraculously,the man regained his sight but suprisingly, this same blind man was very disappointed, for he did not like what he finally saw. 'Is this what those with good eyes are suffering?',he asked. He preferred being blind to having good eyes for reasons best known to him. The World Sight Day emphasizes the structures put in place to remind people of the need to make serious and relentless efforts towards preserving their visions by taki