I have been insanely lucky to have done some wildly diverse things in life. Everything from being a theoretical physicist to a professional windsurfer to an international celebrity singing Vietnamese and Khmer, and yeah a Wall Street guy.
But before I saw anything more about myself, this is my most cherished quote from a man I never met;
“Even a four-legged elephant can stumble, and a wise person can forget.” However, if I do not do it, it will not happen. Therefore, I worry in advance that there may be shortcomings in my speech, and I kindly ask for your patience and forgiveness.” - Grandfather Pka Ta Soy.
Pka Ta Soy was an illiterate farmer from a village not far from Phnom Penh, Cambodia. He was also the last human being alive to have memorized The Reamker (the Khmer version of the epic Indian text The Ramayana). He survived the Khmer Rouge regime, and in the late 1980s, he was interviewed by a journalist who had learned of him. He uttered the quote above. Then, with a microphone placed in front of him, he recited over 300 pages of text from memory. He died in 1993.
… Oh, but I was once stupid enough to poke a bear with a stick.
No really! I’m serious!!! What kind of idiot pokes a bear with a stick???
