The Book of Life

acquired the flat illegally. The court ruled against him. Mrs. Padma Desai received this news over the phone. Soon after, she jumped to her death. She thought that by killing herself she was freeing herself forever from the court’s decision. But if she had realized that by committing suicide she was actually stepping into a greater court—where no such option would remain—her decision would have been very different. A person’s greatest weakness is impatience. In haste, he takes a drastic step. Yet if he paused to think, he would never do so. THE SECRET OF LIFE B ill Cosby, an African-American, was born in 1937 into a poor family. In the beginning, he barely earned a thousand dollars a year. Today, his annual income has reached several million dollars. How did a black man achieve such extraordinary success in whitedominated America? The answer lies in education and his determination to achieve success. When Bill Cosby was in fifth grade at a school in Philadelphia, he often fooled around and paid little attention to studies. One day, his teacher, Miss Nagle, told him: “Even if you want to be a joker, you still need higher education. Without education, you cannot succeed in any field.” (Span, January 1987)