First, set the mood

Last Tuesday I went for another Covid-19 booster shot. Unlike the previous occurrences, it left me a little woozy and irritable, and 3 days after the deed my arm is still sore and itchy.

Your mood and your thinking are very often controlled by your body’s shenanigans. When you don’t feel well, you are more likely to be bad-tempered and uncooperative. If the condition persists, you might even become permanently depressed and misanthropic. But be careful…

“A sad soul can kill you quicker, far quicker, than a germ.” John Steinbeck

So, when you meet somebody, instead of the ritual “hello” or any other kind of greeting, it seems reasonable to me to start a conversation with a friendly “how do you feel?”. If the other person does not respond reassuringly, avoid asking for money or any other favor.

The same goes for diplomacy. Before negotiating any deal, diplomats should enquire about each other’s health. If they don’t get a positive answer, they should postpone the deal… or have a few drinks prior to negotiating. For instance, do not try to parley with Putin unless you have been assured that he had a few shots of vodka ahead of time.

In America, we just voted, and many people cast their ballots angrily because of the cost of living. Egged on by a red-hatted second-rate politico, they blamed Joe Biden for that. Joe does not have anything to do with this. The real culprit is Vladimir Putin, with his reckless war with Ukraine. Everybody should know by now, that Ukraine has not been called “the granary of Europe” for nothing.

Unbeknown to many, it has fed the world for decades and has always been the envy of its big neighbor. The only way to stop inflation is to force Putin to back off or vanish.

 “The right to vote is not the expression of a mood, it is a decision with regard to one’s country, with regard to its children.” Jacques Chirac

 Alain