Nothing is perfect. Life is messy. Relationships are complex. Outcomes are uncertain. People are irrational.
So, if falling crime rates coincide with the rise of violent video games and increasing violence on TV and at the cinema, should we conclude that media violence is causing the drop in crime rates?
Some researchers sensibly suggest that rather than worrying too much about which programs our children are watching, we should concentrate on trying to reduce the total amount of time they spend in front of the screen.
Actually, I can't imagine anything more tedious than a perfect person, especially if it was someone who also demanded perfection from me.
The copycat effects of media violence, similar to those previously attributed to westerns, radio serials and comic books, are easy to exaggerate.
It seems inevitable that the magic of the written word will fade.
Obviously, every child should be given the best possible opportunity to acquire literacy skills.
But the rule seems to be that the bigger and more life-changing the decision, the less it will seem like a decision at all.
I suspect the secret of personal attraction is locked up in our unique imperfections, flaws and frailties.
Is it possible that literacy standards are falling because young Australians are growing up in a culture in which they can be entertained and informed, and in which they can communicate effectively, without having to master any but the most rudimentary literacy skills?
Perhaps it's the people whose lives have taken sudden new twists - people who have learned to embrace the creative possibilities of change - who stand the best chance of penetrating life's mysteries.
Universal literacy was a 20th-century goal. Before then, reading and writing were skills largely confined to a small, highly educated class of professional people.
A strangely reflective, even melancholy day. Is that because, unlike our cousins in the northern hemisphere, Easter is not associated with the energy and vitality of spring but with the more subdued spirit of autumn?
One reason we resist making deliberate choices is that choice equals change and most of us, feeling the world is unpredictable enough, try to minimise the trauma of change in our personal lives.
No one welcomes chaos, but why crave stability and predictability?
I'm in total sympathy with Dick Smith's sentiments; I only wish there were grounds for saying we Australians would never tolerate such appalling treatment of refugees being carried out in our name.
I wish we didn't have to own up to a policy deliberately designed to inflict suffering on people who have already been traumatised in the countries from which they've fled.
It's Australian to do such things because, however uncivilised they may seem, it's human to do them.
Indeed, in the present climate of mistrust of institutions, many people who yearn for a more meaningful and fulfilling life would regard the church as an unlikely place to go for guidance.
Although we love the idea of choice - our culture almost worships it - we seek refuge in the familiar and the comfortable.
