Every island to a child is a treasure island.
P. D. JamesRead
Early this morning, 1 January 2021, three minutes after midnight, the last human being to be born on earth was killed in a pub brawl in a suburb of Buenos Aires, aged twenty-five years, two months and twelve days.
Interpretation
This quote reflects on the finality of human existence and the fragility of life.
P. D. James' quote encapsulates the shock and poignancy of life ending unexpectedly, suggesting that the last human's life was abruptly cut short in a moment of violence. It brings to light not just the singularity of this event but also invites deeper contemplation about the nature of existence, the transient nature of life, and the realities of mortality amidst societal conflicts.
In practice
In a discussion about the unpredictability of life at a book club.
Every island to a child is a treasure island.
If from infancy you treat children as gods, they are liable in adulthood to act as devils.
I believe that political correctness can be a form of linguistic fascism, and it sends shivers down the spine of my generation who went to war against fascism.
What a child doesn't receive he can seldom later give.
Open your mind to new experiences, particularly to the study of other people. Nothing that happens to a writer – however happy, however tragic – is ever wasted.
It was one of those perfect English autumnal days which occur more frequently in memory than in life.
Under the all-encompassing aid system, too many places in Africa continue to flounder under inept, corrupt and despotic regimes who spend their time courting and catering to the demands of the army of aid organizations.
In our hyper-secular world, worship is still inevitable. But it is vital to remember that our gods don't choose us, we choose them.
It is not always the same thing to be a good man and a good citizen.
Blacks have traditionally had to operate in a situation where whites have set themselves up as the custodians of the black experience.
Society today is being fragmented by a way of thinking that is inherently short-sighted because it disregards the full horizon of truth - the truth about God and about us. By its nature, relativism fails to see the whole picture. It ignores the very principles that enable us to live and flourish in unity, order and harmony.
Compared to the unleashed forces of warfare and of faith, Mount Vesuvius was kinder to the legacy of antiquity.
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