BLINK

I'm currently working (slowly) through Malcolm Gladwell's "Blink" (http://www.gladwell.com/blink/), which I am thoroughly loving so far!  Knowledge about decisions aside, I will be adding below some of its more amusing quotes as I come across them ...

"Anyone who has ever scanned the bookshelves of a new girlfriend or boyfriend - or peeked inside his or her medicine cabinet - understands this implicitly: you can learn as much - or more - from one glance at a private space as you can from hours of exposure to a public face."

Quotes & Eulogies from Jack Layton's State Funeral at Roy Thomson Hall

The video tribute/montage ... 

"Jack was so alive. So much fun. So engaged in daily life with so much gusto. So unpretentious, that it was hard while he lived to focus on how incredibly important that was to us ... Jack simply radiated an authenticity and honesty and a commitment to his ideals that we now realize we've been thirsting for."

"You could wait forever for perfect conditions, or you can make the best of what you've got"

"Another world is not only possible, she is on her way.  On a quiet day I can hear her breathing." - Arundhati Roy

"Always have a dream that is longer than a lifetime" - Jack Layton

RIP Jack Layton

It says something about a man when you rack your brain thinking about the things they said, and all you come back to is "I won't stop until the job is done".

A common thread among leaders in any field is that they are never, ever, satisfied.  Complacency & the status quo are not in their psyche because things can be better, things can be different - if we have the courage to put ourselves forward and work at them.  Jack embodied these values of courage, hard work and optimism better than any leader I have seen in Canadian politics in my 31 years.  As the NDP, Liberals, and probably even the Conservatives all engage in hotly contested leadership races in the coming years - let us hope that they each look beyond the specific issues of the day and choose a leader who share these values too. 

The best obit of the day so far is by Joanna Smith in The Toronto Star, at:  Jack Layton Dead at 61

Mt Everest in 1996

Fully addicted to this story and the various accounts & characters involved, I've now read three of the autobiographical books on the 1996 disaster upon Mt Everest, that from Jon Krakauer (Into Thin Air); Anatoli Boukreev (The Climb); and Beck Weathers (Left for Dead). 


Next up on the list:  High Exposure by high altitude mountaineering legend David Breashears.

Marie

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