Mercy

The quality of mercy is not strain'd. In one of William Shakespeare's most elegant passages (that's saying a lot folks) Portia reminds us - cross-dressed in the guise of Balthazar since women could not address the court - that the quality of mercy is twice-blessed, both by those that give, and those that receive. Would …

Nilometer

How high is the water? In ancient Egypt the Nile was the source of life and death. Even today this almost entirely desert country depends heavily on the annual flooding of the Nile as the melting snow packs in Ethiopia raise the water level. Predicting the next flood level meant a great deal to the …

Pride

Get it right. Recently I watched a documentary on Canadian small farming (http://tomakeafarm.ca) which I enjoyed (and reminded me why I never wanted to be a farmer.) While harvesting broccoli one farmer says to the other in disgust - look at this: I can't sell this - as she bemoans the state of the broccoli …

Determination

Are you committed? In the canon of self-help/self-motivation literature virtual and hard copy I see lots of advice and admonition today. Build your brand, be different, lead, listen, collaborate... That's a lot of stuff. And unless said-advice is embedded in a blog request to link to a website and pay a small fee, I assume …