Daily Meditation: Wednesday, May 20, 2009

A nation’s mentality is revealed by the set expressions its …

05/20/2009

A nation’s mentality is revealed by the set expressions its people use in particular situations. Let’s just take the example of sneezing. When someone sneezes, the Swiss say, ‘One hundred thousand!’ One hundred thousand what? One hundred thousand francs’ private income. The French say, ‘To your love life!’ – as long as they know the person well enough, of course; otherwise, they don’t permit themselves to refer to their love life but make do with saying, ‘May your wishes come true.’ The Bulgarians say, ‘Na zdravé!’, which means ‘Good health!’ I don’t know what other nations say, but these examples are enough to show that such expressions reflect a nation’s mentality. The Swiss, who have many banks in their land, put the emphasis on money; for the French, love comes first, and for the Bulgarians it’s health above all that matters. Now, if I had to give my opinion, I would say there is one wish that exceeds all others – the wish for light. For with light you have everything: health, love, wealth, strength, wisdom…