There is a Tide in the Affairs of Men, which taken at the Flood leads on to Fortune. Omitted, all the Voyage of their Life is spent in Shallows and in Miseries. On such a full Sea are we now afloat, and we must take the Current when it leads, or lose our Ventures.
Thus speaks Brutus after having agonized endlessly over whether to murder his friend and mentor Julius Caesar to save the Republic.
US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has faced a similar dilemma during 2008 but he has chosen differently: he saved his friends and former colleagues in Goldman Sachs, and thereby may have sacrificed the republic. Consciously or not, his actions have all benefitted Goldman while their former competitors have fallen by the wayside. Whence Lehman? Bear Stearns? Merrill Lynch? AIG? Dare one say Citibank?
Last year I bid 2007 goodbye (and good riddance) with Henry V, but every year is a Shakespeare year lately; can 2009 best the previous two for sheer drama? One rather hopes not. May you live in interesting times is indeed a curse, not a blessing. But somehow fortune smiled on the Haagens and allowed us to make our way through the eye of the needle once again.
[Editor: you can be such a drama queen sometimes. Go sit in the corner and I'll finish this Christmas letter. First let me wriggle out of these square brackets - - - ] - - - Ah, that's better. News reporting can be so gloomy, and it's deeply biological: we simply do not respond to reports of positive events. We sub-consciously crave stories with negative content; there is evolutionary survival value in paying attention to scary reports ("Sabretoothed Tiger Snacked On Unprotected Child!! Hunter Yodelling In Mountain Covered In Avalanche!!"), while paying attention to good news never saved anybody's life ("Shaman's Skills Once Again Kept Tribe Safe During Thunderstorm!! Nobody Hurt In Attack Of Cuddly Dodos!!"). Nature is a Scrooge when it comes to unnecessary traits so it's little wonder that the successful media ignore everything positive: we're simply not wired to appreciate it.
That suggests reports of the state of things around the world are exaggerated, so let's see if that bears out in reality.
Ok, the value of our home is probably back to a level last seen when Swedish pop peaked. Some but not many may temporarily be out of a job, leading to a loss of a few notches of self-esteem, but nobody goes hungry, nobody has had to take their kids out of school, maybe our wine merchant sells us more cardboard boxes than bottles these days, but hey, a little hardship has never done anybody any harm. It might even build some character if we're not careful!
Let's face it: we all live in ways that kings of yonder could only dream of.
] AH: who's the drama queen now?! Can I finish with a brief update? You're sure?
So here we are: I have started working in the new office in December, although if we grow too big, I may have to acquire proper office space on Hong Kong Island, and relinquish the premises to Irene's painting classes and the girls' homework. Irene's entreprise, Davincino, has been well received, and dozens of young artistinos can declare, when interviewed on Oprah a couple of decades from now, that they took the babysteps of their craft on a boat in Hong Kong.
The rascalettes are growing at breakneck speed, and at Primary 1 Patricia is showing unmistakable signs of the same addiction to reading that characterises her lovely sister. Except of course when they have to read, in which case it is the source of rebellious rumblings in the girls' den. Does that sound familiar, oh parents of girls? Does reverse psychology help? "No, you HAVE to play SIMs for at least another hour before I let you do your homework! And eat some more of that candy before you can have your apple!" Maybe I lack in subtlety... Josephine certainly has to follow Irene to the neck chiropractor soon, since she has also developed the habit of shaking her head at just about any suggestion given by the Man in the house. How sharper than a serpent's tooth to have an ungrateful family; it makes me weep to think of all the good advice going to waste.
And on that happy note: Season's Greetings to All!
Thus speaks Brutus after having agonized endlessly over whether to murder his friend and mentor Julius Caesar to save the Republic.
US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has faced a similar dilemma during 2008 but he has chosen differently: he saved his friends and former colleagues in Goldman Sachs, and thereby may have sacrificed the republic. Consciously or not, his actions have all benefitted Goldman while their former competitors have fallen by the wayside. Whence Lehman? Bear Stearns? Merrill Lynch? AIG? Dare one say Citibank?
Last year I bid 2007 goodbye (and good riddance) with Henry V, but every year is a Shakespeare year lately; can 2009 best the previous two for sheer drama? One rather hopes not. May you live in interesting times is indeed a curse, not a blessing. But somehow fortune smiled on the Haagens and allowed us to make our way through the eye of the needle once again.
[Editor: you can be such a drama queen sometimes. Go sit in the corner and I'll finish this Christmas letter. First let me wriggle out of these square brackets - - - ] - - - Ah, that's better. News reporting can be so gloomy, and it's deeply biological: we simply do not respond to reports of positive events. We sub-consciously crave stories with negative content; there is evolutionary survival value in paying attention to scary reports ("Sabretoothed Tiger Snacked On Unprotected Child!! Hunter Yodelling In Mountain Covered In Avalanche!!"), while paying attention to good news never saved anybody's life ("Shaman's Skills Once Again Kept Tribe Safe During Thunderstorm!! Nobody Hurt In Attack Of Cuddly Dodos!!"). Nature is a Scrooge when it comes to unnecessary traits so it's little wonder that the successful media ignore everything positive: we're simply not wired to appreciate it.
That suggests reports of the state of things around the world are exaggerated, so let's see if that bears out in reality.
Ok, the value of our home is probably back to a level last seen when Swedish pop peaked. Some but not many may temporarily be out of a job, leading to a loss of a few notches of self-esteem, but nobody goes hungry, nobody has had to take their kids out of school, maybe our wine merchant sells us more cardboard boxes than bottles these days, but hey, a little hardship has never done anybody any harm. It might even build some character if we're not careful!
Let's face it: we all live in ways that kings of yonder could only dream of.
] AH: who's the drama queen now?! Can I finish with a brief update? You're sure?
So here we are: I have started working in the new office in December, although if we grow too big, I may have to acquire proper office space on Hong Kong Island, and relinquish the premises to Irene's painting classes and the girls' homework. Irene's entreprise, Davincino, has been well received, and dozens of young artistinos can declare, when interviewed on Oprah a couple of decades from now, that they took the babysteps of their craft on a boat in Hong Kong.
The rascalettes are growing at breakneck speed, and at Primary 1 Patricia is showing unmistakable signs of the same addiction to reading that characterises her lovely sister. Except of course when they have to read, in which case it is the source of rebellious rumblings in the girls' den. Does that sound familiar, oh parents of girls? Does reverse psychology help? "No, you HAVE to play SIMs for at least another hour before I let you do your homework! And eat some more of that candy before you can have your apple!" Maybe I lack in subtlety... Josephine certainly has to follow Irene to the neck chiropractor soon, since she has also developed the habit of shaking her head at just about any suggestion given by the Man in the house. How sharper than a serpent's tooth to have an ungrateful family; it makes me weep to think of all the good advice going to waste.
And on that happy note: Season's Greetings to All!
