Basket.

June is, I realise, quite a time for anniversaries. And because I have time during June to care about them, so I remember them (I left out the official German surrender in WW II, May 10 1945, earlier in the year). Tommorrow, for instance, marks the 63rd anniversary of what is still the greatest land invasion ever launched (with the greatest amphibious operation ever, Operation Overlord having been on June 6th, hmm): Operation Barbarossa, Hitler's invasion of the Soviet Union, June 22nd 1941. It was a contest of wills between two maniacal dictators history will forever remember, and the end result was a total of over 20 million dead on both sides (only half of that number soldiers), a Europe riven for fifty years and syllabus material for General Certificate of Education (Advanced Level), International History 9067/03, The Origins of the Cold War 1945-1991.

Talking about knowledge in general, that day I was reading a website about stupid Americans, and one incident related was that of a webmaster of a British website receiving over 50 emails from Americans pointing out "spelling errors" on his website. Apparently, he spelled the words as "humour", "favour", etc. The Americans had no idea that British English was different from American English, and thought American English was the only form of English spoken worldwide. Well, what do you expect, I suppose. America, land of the ignorant and home of the stupid. But it was quite funny anyway.

Knowledge, or success? They are so often mutually exclusive. You can be awfully rich but awfully ignorant. Most of the time, we can choose only one path. To know a lot, or to have a lot of stuff. Well, go the ways you want to, I guess. Society needs both pragmatists and dreamers. Neither can exist without the other, though the utilitarians ruling our nation would argue otherwise.

The news recently said that perfectionists will suffer from more health problems than, for lack of a better term, "non-perfectionists". They actually had to do a scientific study to find that out? Well, the results do not surprise me in the least. One must be satisfied, some time. One cannot always be hungry, always seeking to be better. The pursuit of flawlessness will destroy the pursuer. In the end, it simply is not worth it. Be happy with what you have, be happy with what you get. The material aspects of life is never the most important thing in one's existence.