Some time ago I came across the following saying: “The weak revenge, the strong forgive, the intelligent ignore.” The saying came at the right moment, for I was entangled in an irrelevant matter that was best ignored. I took some time to ponder about the wise words and realized that the upper words of wisdom need examples. Therefore I will try to name some. Revenge in itself is not a wise thing to do or to feel. But we should distinguish between a revenge and standing up for oneself. A young couple told me that they had picked their son from kindergarten bruised repeatedly. They talked to the...

Some year ago, soon after having been released from a psychiatric hospital, I was taking a walk in the forest with a friend. She would go on talking about her problems and I was comforting her. All of a sudden a small brown dog came from nowhere and it started to tear my jacket and my trousers apart. We managed to get rid of him somehow and I was in a double shock: still traumatized by the hospitalization and on the top of that attacked by a dog. All these years I thought I was lucky the dog did not bite my skin and hurt me. It only damaged the jacket and trousers. Yet recently it has dawned on me...

Feri Lainšček, a much translated Slovene writer, very popular and successful also in his home country, was more than pleasant to listen to on the national holiday, 25. of June, the state independence day of Slovenia, a relatively young state. I cannot quote all his interesting statements, for that would call for a proper interview striving to do him justice. Thus I chose only one of his statements that made me ponder: “I wonder, how can a generation of parents, that have handled the new state so badly, have raised so wonderful kids?” Let me put this statement into context. Lainšček was doing...