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| Home » Writings, Speeches, Broadcasts » Credo » 1998 |
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| Acts of Kindness Turn Strangers into Friends |
| 1/12/1998 |
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The Yale Law Professor Steven L. Carter has just published a fascinating book entitled Civility. In it, he tells the following story. Carter is black, and in 1966, when he was ten, he and his family moved into a white neighbourhood in Washington. It felt like exile. Along with his brothers and sisters, he sat on the front doorstep, watching people passing by and waiting for someone to say hello. No-one did. No word of greeting came. He felt invisible. He describes his mood at the time. Al... |
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| Why We Should Value Silence Above Gold |
| 1/11/1998 |
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Is anything private any more? Probably not, to judge by the latest round of political diaries, scandals, and documentaries about the Royal family. Indiscretion pays. It boosts audience ratings and serialisation rights. Woody Allen once joked: "They threw me out for cheating in my metaphysics exam. They caught me looking into someone else's soul." Today, looking into someone else's private life has become our favourite entertainment. Public figures now know that their most confidential rem... |
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| A Time of Trouble that Became A Celebration |
| 1/10/1998 |
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After the sheer intensity of the High Holy Days, the Jewish community gets ready this week to celebrate that most delightful of festivals, Sukkot, the festival of the Tabernacles. We call it the "season of our rejoicing". For a week we leave the comfort of our houses and live in huts or booths open to the sky, with only a covering of leaves as a roof. It's the way in which we recall the experience of the ancient Israelites as they wandered for 40 years through the desert, on their way to ... |
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| The Difference Between Religion & Sprituality |
| 1/10/1998 |
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Reading Michael Ignatieff's delightful biography, published this week, of the late Sir Isaiah Berlin I was struck yet again by the inadequacy, if not the downright mischief, of words like "secular" and "religious". Sir Isaiah, one of the truly great minds of the 20th century, used to see himself as a "secular" Jew. He once said to me, with a smile, "Chief Rabbi, don't talk to me about religion. When it comes to God, I'm tone-deaf." He even used to tease me about my own faith. How could I,... |
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