House Elves

Ahhh it's a gloriously sunny Sunday morning here, the skies are sharp and blue and with some regret I've just finished the latest and last installment of the Harry Potter series by J K Rowling. I've been reading those books for the last ten years so will kind of miss them as they are now familiar, and I assert that having a preference for the familiar is a fundamental part of the human condition. Still, there are two more films to look forwards to :)

House Elves were "slaves" to wizards throughout the Potter series, working for little or no pay but glad to do so usually, for love.

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You wrote recently:

There's a powerful driver within our souls to prove ourselves right ... even when it doesn't really matter if we do. Pride? Stubbornness? Fear?

I agree this seems to be a fundamental urge, I see it in my daughter. It must be connected to fear I believe. I don't know if I told you before, but in the last year some time a smart Mensa fellow told me about two people in a heated debate, or just having a chat:

• The smart fellow thinks "I wonder what this person thinks about my arguments?"
• The really smart fellow thinks "I wonder what this person thinks I think about his arguments or what I think about my arguments?"

I think it is all connected to the desire to win, that imposter again. But what else could you expect from an organism that has developed through natural selection, survial of the fittest, winning the race?

Now, if on the other hand we are fashioned by God, then I have no idea why we are imbued with this competitive desire to win, what good can it do us? Think of how many wars have been caused by it. Heck, even the original sin was caused by the desire to win something, knowledge in that case.

If you don't fight (like Ghandi) do you win? Will passive resistance always eventually prove itself to be unstoppable? If we are verbally attacked, we defend ourselves don't we? Why do we bother? Why don't we just say "Ok, bye"? It's a shame that we have to waste precious moments of our lives dealing with those that would attack us, so that they themselves can assuage some sort of desire within themselves, or mitigate their own pain, isn't it?

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Two weeks vacation time for us now. I am not sure where we will get to, I will probably take the girls to a Pottery Musuem and visit a bunch of theme parks in the UK. We were going to pop over to Eurodisney Paris but oops K's passport has expired (10 years) so we'll make that trip during half term (semester).

Wherever we get to, the hotel must have a swimming pool, jacuzzi and steam room/sauna, this they demand of me!