Perspective

Talk turns to the current status of many of the Swiss people Richard and George know in common. Last night at dinner George told a story of one fellow who worked in an office in Bern. Usually everyone in the office would go out to eat lunch together but on this particular day he stayed in with a bagged lunch. His office chair was wooden with a wood seat  - he shifted his weight in it and realized he'd gotten a splinter right on his butt. Hmmmm. He took off his pants and his underpants but couldn't see where it was - not enough light, so he got up on the chair and took his magnifying glass in hand, twisting himself backwards so he could see his butt in the glass. That's when the janitor walked in.

The same chap, a geologist spent some time in Greenland on as assignment. He was recently engaged but had a contretemps with his father-in-law to be, so thought it would be a good idea to get out of "Dodge" for a while. Greenland seems like a rather extreme solution nevertheless there he was with nobody but an Inuit to lead him around and help him collect samples. Life was bleak, lonely and dangerous. Once, he was out too far, a storm hit and he found himself almost freezing to death when he and his dogs, stumbled on a musk ox. He killed it, gutted it and climbed in, waiting out the storm and surviving. Iccck. Later, they were too late to get out of Greenland before the ice froze over again and had to spend another bunch of months together. One day, he was running his sled with the inuit behind when he felt a bullet whistle right by his ear. The inuit was trying to kill him...he'd lost his marbles which happens in the cold and isolation. When he finally got back to Bern, the nasty father-in-law didn't seem like such a problem. Perspective.