Being an artist

I just stole a moment from your enjoying the beauty of Rilke's prose.

"Being an artist means: not numbering and counting, but ripening like a tree, which doesn't force its sap, and stands confidently in the storms of spring, not afraid that afterward summer may not come. It does come. But it comes only to those who are patient, who are there as if eternity lay before them, so unconcernedly silent and vast"

From his Letters to a Young Poet
Viareggio, near Pisa
April 23, 1903

Its been many years since my first reading but I clearly remember how it moved me then. I can never overstate the enduring appeal of this quote.

The Economics of "Love is like the Measles"

Infection and ensuing immunity to certain diseases could induce people to go out and seek them, early. Many of us would be familiar with some parents' desiring early immunity of their children, whether through infection or vaccination.

The economic reason being the costs of such disease like the measles and mumps are higher when infected later in life, for instance severe scarring. The disproportionately higher incidence of such disease amongst young children (before vaccination became an almost costless alternative) may partly be attributed to parents deliberately inviting these diseases upon their loved ones!!

This reminds me of a quote from the German writer Rainer Maria Rilke. I happen to share my birth date with him (more accurately, day and month, not year - predated me by a mere 105 years!).

"Love is like the measles. The older you get it, the worse the attack"