I wake up to a story about the Nemadi, a nomadic people of the Mauritanian Sahara, and to the smile of a very old lady. 'That smile', Chatwin told me, 'taught me to reject out of hand all arguments for the nastiness of human nature. The idea of returning to an 'original simplicity' was not naive or unscientific or out of touch with reality: 'Renunciation, even at this later date, can work (...) The world, if it has a future, has an ascetic future'.

I agree, I agree. And I propose to begin with a gentle middle way: let's all give up half of what we have, rich and poor alike, let's do half of what we do, eat half of what we eat, work half of what we work, consume half of what we consume. Let's find our way slowly, and gently to an ascetic future. That way it will not feel as renunciation at all.

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La senhora de la pension se llama Eleni, como buena griega, y de apellido Colenda, hija de un italiano de Istambul que vino a Alexandroupoli como agente del Banco Otomano, y de una griega de Kavala. Asi que la familia esta aqui desde antes de la guerra con Turquia, y no como exiliados de la misma como pense primero. Eleni quedo huerfana a los dos anhos de edad y fue criada por unas monjas francesas que aqui tenian un colegio.

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