I was taught nearly 60 years ago by a man who I respected for his scientific knowledge, his sardonic wit and shrewd observation of humanity that every person in the world is capable of writing a book.
My book will include the historical fact that whilst riding his moped back from the pub one night he fell off, severely injuring himself. As a consequence we lost our biology teacher for 18 months and I utterly failed in my declared ambition to go to university and become a forrester.

The world over it is the individual who is recognised as having the rights - not commerce, not industry, not government, not countries, not religion, not ethnic race, not sexual orientation, not gender, not age, not domicile, not wealth, not a possessor of anything - just the individual.

Whether my ramblings fall into your requested "thoughts" or even outside of Professor Cipolla's Quadrant for Stupid I do not know or at this moment care - I have to leave the relative warmth and comfort of my home for the dark wet night and the local supermarket yet again wondering why a simple legal document awaited 4 months, promised again for today and for the umpteenth time has not materialised in my email. I wonder what this week's excuse will be?

To escape the drudgery of life perhaps? Many believe they have no control of their life and are just a cog in the machine called society. They want to be seen as like people in control of their own lives and does not follow the masses who they perceive as living empty lives following what is dictated to them by society. The poor and powerless are hardly in control of their fate or choices often.

The further bad news is that there is expected conformity in authenticities and originalities...

I think this has always been true, that people want to feel/be "special". I feel it is the key in even a person-to-person relationship!

In societies that breed the need for constant attention and validation, through social media and the volume of people who seek it, being unique is the only way to stand out.

Alan de Botton says to find true success, we must move past status anxiety. TED talk