The world, world union, World Army, World Parliament have been ideas afoot for a long time. Many such ideas were described as moonshine at the time of their conception. A few later became a reality, like the European Union and others became topics for scholars to study. Again, a few turned out to be moonshine. Marx's idea of Socialism never gained ground for seventy years until Lenin made it a reality. It ended up as a reality of command economy and police state. After seventy years, it destroyed itself.

There are about thirteen million Jews in the world, half of them in America. Wherever they are, they are outstanding. They are prosperous. There may not be a continent where they are not found. We may say there may not be a country where they are not found. Their expertise is in money lending. Often they have lent money to kings. It was a Jewish banker who lent money to the government of Britain to buy the Suez Canal. When the Prime Minister sent someone to the banker for the loan, the banker promptly asked what the security was.

Stone formation in the kidney or gall bladder is described as a very painful disease. Surgery was resorted to ever since chloroform came. It is surprising to know that there was surgery for a few ailments even before anaesthesia was available. Surgeons developed extraordinary skill in completing the operation in a maximum of fifteen minutes. Brandy, opium and similar drugs too were used to somewhat dull the pain. The military received a great number of wounded of all types. Several types of innovations sprang up, mainly in military hospitals.

Subjectivity is to understand the world from our point if view. Detaching ourselves from our own understanding, looking at things as they are is objectivity. These lofty concepts in philosophy are termed in daily conversation as narrow-minded and broadminded outlooks. In slang, one is called foolish and the other is called clear-headed. An extreme example in life that has become proverbial for subjectivity is one seeing the world through coloured glasses. An ayurvedic doctor found by experience that his patients would not take the full course of medicines.

On the sixtieth anniversary of the dropping of the atom bomb, the Mayor of Hiroshima spoke about the danger of encouraging the development of smaller atom bombs. Historians studying the events of the twentieth century more than confirm the misgivings expressed before World War II or at the time of the Versailles Treaty. Even if Germany was the culprit in WWI, exacting reparations of undue proportion would lead to vengeful emotions in Germany which were expressed after the first war.

The teacher who understands the subject, teaches it well so that the interest of the class is awakened is the best of teachers. In the training colleges where psychology is taught, it is said to understand the student is more important than understanding the subject. The student has two sides to his personality. One is the human side that needs attention and affection. The other is the mental capacity to relate to the subject taught and absorb it with interest. Teachers' colleges deal with the latter. The former is out of reach for the teacher.

The future of the nation is in the hands of the youth and children. That future is determined by the education they get today. In the fifties, the prime educational problem was school buildings. Next it was attendance. Midday meal came to ensure attendance. After the seventies, education at all levels expanded limitlessly. Quantitative expansion results in quality deterioration.  Recently people have become quality conscious in education. In some good measure, quality too emerges at all levels.

The proliferation of nursery and primary schools began in the sixties and has almost saturated the nation. It was an initial symptom of educational awakening. We find parents are willing to pay high fees for quality education. The one aspiration of the lowest members of the society as domestic servants and rickshaw drivers today is to give good education to children. We hear of hundreds of pioneering efforts in founding schools that believe that they have come by the last word in education. These schools are popular and parents happily pay high fees.

We use words like judgement, prejudice, opinion often. We use them correctly. They may not be very precise in the context, serving as an appropriate word, but our usage is always correct. There is a distance between being correct and being perfect. We may know a range of words such as anger, rage, fury, incense, annoyance, irritation, embarrassment, discomfort, displeasure, but we may not take the trouble to use the appropriate word. We may use anger in all places. It is not taking enough linguistic efforts in a speech delivered or a conversation.

What we know as good manners, the social scientist will term social skills. Manners are the major part of these skills. In today's atmosphere of public life, these skills acquire a premium. Persuasiveness, presentation, presence of mind, alert attention, agility in movement, observation of others, adjusting to their viewpoint and finally, accomplishment go with social skills. Manners, character and personality play a very large part in such an achievement. We can witness two extremes.