Be Grateful For School

While the national dialogue in the U.S. involves charter schools, school vouchers and the state of public school education, let’s remember access to education is a privilege, at least in a global sense. Within the last two years, 100 percent of the girls’ school facilities and the home schooling programs for girls in Afghanistan’s Taliban territories have been shut down. (From Sept. Harper’s Magazine)

* Newsweek’s take on Princess Di commemoration: “Sure, men wept. But Diana’s champions were overwhelmingly women. Like many of them, she had a heartless husband, in-laws from hell, fickle boyfriends. She worried about and loved her kids, she wondered what life on her own would be like. Diana Week was a time in which women could celebrate and mourn one who had come through the vicissitudes suffered by millions and found, for a short summer, real happiness.” (From Sept. 7 Newsweek)

* Let’s be clear: With all the talk about adultery, Time magazine ran a poll to see exactly what behavior people think constitutes adultery. No big surprise that 95 percent of Americans agree “having sex with a prostitute” counts as adultery.

But the definition got nebulous from there on. For example, 35 percent said “casually flirting with someone else (other than your spouse)” is adulterous. So is having a sexually explicit conversation with someone on the phone, according to 69 percent, or holding hands with someone else, say 44 percent of those polled.

What gives us pause, though, is the 26 percent of those polled who said “infidelity is an unavoidable part of married life today.” (From Aug. 31 Time)

* Think about it: We revisit the theme that ad copy writers do, indeed, have moments of insight. As evidence, we offer up this thought from the ad folks with the Timberland outdoors clothing account: “When we look at a statue of someone great, we think they’ve got something we don’t. We are trained to think that only a tiny percentage of us have the stuff it takes to be a hero. Not many of us will cure any diseases or slay any dragons, but every single one of us - every single one of us - is called to be a king, a queen, a hero in our ordinary lives. We don’t build statues to worship the exceptional life, we build them to remind ourselves what is possible in our own. (From September/October Mirabella)

* Need an excuse? Mortality risk from all causes was 50 percent lower in those who had an orgasm at least twice a week, than for those who managed it less than once a month, according to a 20-year-long study of 918 men ages 45 and older in South Wales.

In general, the study concluded, the more sex, the lower the chances of death. (From August Men’s Journal)

* Quote of the week: “If someone tells you he’s going to make a ‘realistic decision,’ you immediately understand that he’s resolved to do something bad.” - Mary McCarthy (From September The Sun)