FRIDAY FIVE: ANOTHER TIME, ANOTHER PLACE

1. If you had the chance to meet someone you’ve never met, from the past or present, who would it be?
Alfred Einstein, who said this:

“A human being is part of the whole, which we call the call the ‘Universe’: a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest?a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and affection for a few persons nearest us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its astonishing beauty. Nobody is able to achieve this completely but striving for such achievement is, in itself, a part of the liberation, and the foundation for inner peace.”

2. If you had to live in a different century, past or future, which would it be?
Any century more than 30,000 years ago. There’s growing evidence that human life back then was not the ‘nasty, brutish’ existence that the apologists for modern civilization’s mess would have us believe, but rather idyllic, peaceful, harmonious and easy.

3. If you had to move anywhere else on Earth, where would it be?
The Netherlands. More than any other nation on Earth, the Dutch are people of the world.

4. If you had to be a fictional character, who would it be?
Dan from Aaron Sorkin’s Sports Night. A lot like me, but faster, funnier, a little better looking and a lot more articulate.

5. If you had to live with having someone else’s face as your own for the rest of your life, whose would it be?
Pierre Trudeau. No one so good looking that it gets in the way. Intelligent looking.