Heady Thoughts in Nouakchott

I’m really not a quote person. I don’t post insightful, uplifting phrases on facebook. I don’t “like” other people’s posts of that kind. Call it cynicism, pragmatism, or whatever, but I generally can’t get past the cheesy factor. I feel the same way about most Hallmark cards. HOWEVER. I happened upon the following quote while waiting for my flight in the Paris airport, and after being in Nouakchott for a few days (more on that in a later post) and observing the widely varying mentalities of the Americans who work here, and their resulting attitudes toward life, I think this particular quote is highly appropriate and applicable to Foreign Service life in general. So enjoy:

“The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven…”
-John Milton, Paradise Lost

Full disclosure: I was not reading Paradise Lost at the airport. The quote appeared in an article in Runner’s World magazine. I have only read part of the abridged version of Paradise Lost, and that was in 10th or 11th grade.