My trivial thinking

My American Journey is Colin Powell’s autobiography, covering the years from his birth in 1937 to 1994, when he resigned as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Because of this time span, the book does not mention his later address to the UN Security Council, where he asserted that Iraq had developed mobile laboratories for producing biological weapons — a claim that later proved false and left him deeply humiliated. In my view, he should never have served under President George W. Bush alongside Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld. Accepting the position of Secretary of State in the Bush administration was, I believe, the greatest mistake of his career. I do not know much about African American history or its many different backgrounds. Each individual has a distinct story. Condoleezza Rice is descended from enslaved Africans brought directly to America. President Obama is the son of a foreign student. Powell, by contrast, was the son of Jamaican immigrants. His parents came to the Un...

I had a strange dream last night. I found a small bird on a deserted path and caught it with my cap. When I held it in my hand, I saw it was a tiny black‑and‑white bird, small enough to rest easily in my palm. It struggled, and its movements pricked my fingers. After lingering on that strange sensation for a moment, I let the bird go and watched it fly back into the air.  

  I’ve been feeling depressed lately. I can’t sleep well, and I often wake up in the middle of the night feeling low. I’m distracted, unable to concentrate on reading, and I’ve even made mistakes at work. I’m not sure what I should do when I feel like this. I took a sleeping pill last night. I may not be able to update this blog for a while.