Thomas's monday morning poetry

Here’s some food: food for thought.

My brother and his team mates were in Paris last week for a students 7 a side tournament (they were playing for the SA Students Sevens rugby side). They loved Paris. They loved the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower, The river Seine… everything was beautiful. What they thought was a little disconcerting was the proliferation of machine gun toting gendarmes asking random questions of innocent passers by. Smells a bit like the old South Africa.

Issues of concern to these students was the price of beer (naturally) and the French fixation with bread. The bread issue was a culture shock to them: a team of South African students used to a protein intake that is close to overdose subjected to eating French bread all day. In the end they resorted to Le MacDonalds. They all agreed that, having viewed the French women, South African ladies are the most beautiful. Apparently the fixation for baguettes etc. has had a rather nasty side effect on the French female derriere.

And now for the next installment of the Tao Te Ching:

Heaven and Earth are ruthless;
To them the Ten Thousand Things are but as
Straw Dogs.
The Sage too is ruthless;
To him the people are but as straw dogs.
Yet Heaven and Earth and all that lies between
Is like a bellows
In that it is empty, but gives a supply that never
Fails.
Work it, and more comes out.
Whereas the force of words is soon spent.
Far better is it to keep what is in the heart.

Tootle pip,
Thomas