If the last few years have taught us anything, writes Robert Dessaix, it’s that happiness and sadness, even misery can go together
t’s a nightmare, a barbaric farce. The city is first taken by Russians, then by Ukrainians, then by Russians again; foreign forces join the struggle, gangster hordes go on killing sprees, thousands are butchered, and a plague engulfs the survivors. It’s Kyiv. The year is 1918.
In Kyiv in 1918, for example, Paustovsky believed that the safest, the happiest refuge from the avalanche of catastrophes engulfing his homeland lay in three things: nature, domesticity and intimacy. As it happens, when the, it was in a shack in the middle of “nature” that our little family of two humans and a dog first sought refuge. Needless to say, we didn’t live off nature, we didn’t forage, we just lived among the gum trees.
It’s hardly a new problem, although some recent commentators, in their excitement, have declared our sufferings “unprecedented”. They are actually par for the course. Four hundred years ago, for instance, Robert Burton, the author of the monumentalfire, inundations, thefts, murders, massacres, meteors, comets and omens” afflicting England.
Malaysia Latest News, Malaysia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Small rural town offers $1 million salary to doctor willing to work thereA $1 million salary is being offered to a doctor willing to move to a remote Australian town. 9News
Read more »
One in two small businesses are not making a profit in AustraliaSmall Business Australia Executive Director Bill Lang says in Australia there’s “still one in two small businesses across' Australia that are not making a profit. “So they’re either breaking even or are in the case of one in five, they’re making a loss,” he told Sky News commentator Steve Price. “That means they're continuing to dig into the family’s savings perhaps having to borrow more money to actually keep the doors open. “So, you take something like a public holiday. “In many cases, the business owners have to say look it's not going to be worth being open to lose more money faster on a public holiday.”
Read more »
Farewell, Netflix password sharing. Never again will an ex feel the sting of being locked out of your account | Ammar KaliaA small act of intimacy between people living apart is ending, says Ammar Kalia, the Guardian’s global music critic
Read more »
Young people will need ID to purchase energy drinks in this WA townA small town GP is leading a research trial to see if banning the sale of energy drinks to children will reduce anxiety and insomnia in the town's youth.
Read more »
Study finds exercise helps brain healthA new study has found that replacing sitting, sleeping, or gentle movement with less than ten minutes of moderate or vigorous physical activity each day may help your brain. Researchers tracked the daily movement of thousands of people, finding that even a small change can make a big difference.
Read more »
Bucking the trend of rural decline, the tiny town of Rosedale goes from surviving to thrivingAs a sole ute trundles up the main street in this country town, you could be fooled into thinking it's just another small, sleepy Queensland village. But inside the pub, church, cafe and shops, big ideas are brewing.
Read more »