Swami Vivekananda's speech at world congress, 1893

Swami Vivekananda's Speeches

The World Parliament of Religions, Chicago

WELCOME ADDRESS - Chicago, Sept 11, 1893

Sisters and Brothers of America,

It fills my heart with joy unspeakable to rise in response to the warm and cordial welcome which you have given us. I thank you in the name of the most ancient order of monks in the world; I thank you in the name of the mother of religions, and I thank you in the name of millions and millions of Hindu people of all classes and sects.

My thanks, also, to some of the speakers on this platform who, referring to the delegates from the Orient, have told you that these men from far-off nations may well claim the honor of bearing to different lands the idea of toleration. I am proud to belong to a religion which has taught the world both tolerance and universal acceptance. We believe not only in universal toleration, but we accept all religions as true. I am proud to belong to a nation which has sheltered the persecuted and the refugees of all religions and all nations of the earth. I am proud to tell you that we have gathered in our bosom the purest remnant of the Israelites, who came to Southern India and took refuge with us in the very year in which their holy temple was shattered to pieces by Roman tyranny. I am proud to belong to the religion which has sheltered and is still fostering the remnant of the grand Zoroastrian nation. I will quote to you, brethren, a few lines from a hymn which I remember to have repeated from my earliest boyhood, which is every day repeated by millions of human beings: "As the different streams having their sources in different paths which men take through different tendencies, various though they appear, crooked or straight, all lead to Thee."

The present convention, which is one of the most august assemblies ever held, is in itself a vindication, a declaration to the world of the wonderful doctrine preached in the Gita: "Whosoever comes to Me, through whatsoever form, I reach him; all men are struggling through paths which in the end lead to me." Sectarianism, bigotry, and its horrible descendant, fanaticism, have long possessed this beautiful earth. They have filled the earth with violence, drenched it often and often with human blood, destroyed civilization and sent whole nations to despair. Had it not been for these horrible demons, human society would be far more advanced than it is now. But their time is come; and I fervently hope that the bell that tolled this morning in honor of this convention may be the death-knell of all fanaticism, of all persecutions with the sword or with the pen, and of all uncharitable feelings between persons wending their way to the same goal.

Obama's inaugural address

(CNN) -- Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th president of the United States and the nation's first African-American president Tuesday. This is a transcript of his prepared speech.

In his speech Tuesday, President Obama said America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.

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My fellow citizens:

I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition.

Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath. The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often, the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because We the People have remained faithful to the ideals of our forebearers, and true to our founding documents.

So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans.

That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet. Watch the full inauguration speech »

These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land -- a nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights.

Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America: They will be met.

On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.

On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.

We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.

In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of shortcuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the fainthearted -- for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things -- some celebrated, but more often men and women obscure in their labor -- who have carried us up the long, rugged path toward prosperity and freedom.

For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across oceans in search of a new life.

For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West; endured the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth.

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For us, they fought and died, in places like Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sahn.

Time and again, these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction.

This is the journey we continue today. We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions -- that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.

For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act -- not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. And all this we will do.

Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions -- who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short. For they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage.

What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them -- that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply. The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works -- whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end. And those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account -- to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day -- because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.

Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control -- and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous. The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our gross domestic product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on our ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart -- not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.

As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. And so to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: Know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more.

Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions. They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.

We are the keepers of this legacy. Guided by these principles once more, we can meet those new threats that demand even greater effort -- even greater cooperation and understanding between nations. We will begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people, and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan. With old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat, and roll back the specter of a warming planet. We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.

For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus -- and nonbelievers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.

To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West: Know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.

To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.

As we consider the road that unfolds before us, we remember with humble gratitude those brave Americans who, at this very hour, patrol far-off deserts and distant mountains. They have something to tell us today, just as the fallen heroes who lie in Arlington whisper through the ages. We honor them not only because they are guardians of our liberty, but because they embody the spirit of service; a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves. And yet, at this moment -- a moment that will define a generation -- it is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all.

For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies. It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the firefighter's courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent's willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate.

Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends -- hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism -- these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility -- a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation and the world; duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.

This is the price and the promise of citizenship.

This is the source of our confidence -- the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny.

This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed -- why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent Mall, and why a man whose father less than 60 years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.

So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have traveled. In the year of America's birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood. At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:

"Let it be told to the future world ... that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive... that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet [it]."

America. In the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested, we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back, nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.

Steve Jobs' speech at the Stanford graduation ceremony 2005

This is the text of the Commencement address by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, delivered on June 12, 2005.

I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories.

The first story is about connecting the dots.

I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?

It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?" They said: "Of course." My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.

And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn't see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.

It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example:

Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.

None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, its likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.

Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

My second story is about love and loss.

I was lucky — I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation — the Macintosh — a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.

I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down - that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.

I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.

During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.

I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.

My third story is about death.

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.

I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I'm fine now.

This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope its the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.

Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Thank you all very much.

Abraham Lincoln's letter to his son's teacher

He will have to learn, I know,
that all men are not just,
all men are not true.
But teach him also that
for every scoundrel there is a hero;
that for every selfish Politician,
there is a dedicated leader...
Teach him for every enemy there is a
friend,

Steer him away from envy,
if you can,
teach him the secret of
quiet laughter.

Let him learn early that
the bullies are the easiest to lick... Teach him, if you can,
the wonder of books...
But also give him quiet time
to ponder the eternal mystery of birds in the sky,
bees in the sun,
and the flowers on a green hillside.

In the school teach him
it is far honourable to fail
than to cheat...
Teach him to have faith
in his own ideas,
even if everyone tells him
they are wrong...
Teach him to be gentle
with gentle people,
and tough with the tough.

Try to give my son
the strength not to follow the crowd
when everyone is getting on the band wagon...
Teach him to listen to all men...
but teach him also to filter
all he hears on a screen of truth,
and take only the good
that comes through.

Teach him if you can,
how to laugh when he is sad...
Teach him there is no shame in tears,
Teach him to scoff at cynics
and to beware of too much sweetness...
Teach him to sell his brawn
and brain to the highest bidders
but never to put a price-tag
on his heart and soul.

Teach him to close his ears
to a howling mob
and to stand and fight
if he thinks he's right.
Treat him gently,
but do not cuddle him,
because only the test
of fire makes fine steel.

Let him have the courage
to be impatient...
let him have the patience to be brave.
Teach him always
to have sublime faith in himself,
because then he will have
sublime faith in mankind.

This is a big order,
but see what you can do...
He is such a fine fellow,
my son!

Taj Mahal 'doesn't need a theme park'

By Michael Kerr
Published: 11:06AM BST 05 Aug 2009

Comments 4 | Comment on this article

Nearly three million people a year are drawn to visit the Taj Mahal Photo: GETTY IMAGES

Edwin Arnold, who was both a poet and an editor of The Daily Telegraph, said that the Taj Mahal was "not a piece of architecture…but the proud passions of an emperor’s love wrought in living stones”. The description has rarely been bettered, and the building itself is unimprovable. Everyone agrees on that.

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Everyone except the Agra Development Authority. Aswe reported earlier, the authority believes it can enhance “the visitor experience” at the Taj Mahal by surrounding the great mausoleum with “ropewalks, a suspension bridge, cable cars and a Ferris wheel”.

It’ll never happen. Or won’t it? Not so long ago, we were saying that a proposal for a glass walkway projecting from the lip of the Grand Canyon would never be given the go-ahead. But now it’s there, 4,000ft above the Colorado River, a cantilever bridge built, as the website tellingly puts it, to “withstand an excess of 71 million pounds in weight”. It comes, of course, with a café, serving burgers, chicken and barbecued pork – all in the interests of “improving the visitor experience”.

Similar schemes have been mooted, rejected or realised at tourist sights all around the world. Ruins that were already evocative have been tidied up to make them more fitting for camera and for advertising campaign. As the British Arabist Robert Irwin put it, of the Madinat al-Zahra, an Arabian Nights fantasy on the outskirts of Cordoba, "some of the walls are still standing (and such is the progress of archaeology that more walls seem to be still standing each time one visits the place)".

‘Tourist trap’ threat to Taj Mahal, our headline said this morning. The Taj Mahal, has, of course, long been a tourist trap, one of those sights that we can take in only as part of a swarm of camera-clicking visitors. Nearly three million people a year are drawn to visit it. Somehow, 360 years on, it is still surviving the swarm. The threat to it now has less to do with improvement than with greed, a greed that infantilises rather than enhances experience.

OP Jain, the mild-mannered spokesman of the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage, has commented that “the people who come to see the Taj are not the kind of people who like to go by ropeway or see it in front of a Ferris wheel”.

That reminded me of a visit I made some years ago to a game lodge in Tsavo West National Park in Kenya. The man behind the inquiries desk told me confidently that I could expect to see a leopard in a tree very close to where he sat pretty well every evening between six and nine. Not just any old tree, but one particular tree – the one to which the staff climbed by ladder at three in the afternoon with a juicy joint of meat to lash to a high fork. It was my first time on safari. I was hoping to see big game, but I also expected to have to work at it a little, to squint and strain for a glimpse of the shyer inhabitants of the bush. And here I was being presented with a big cat drawn by Disney. This wasn’t a leopard that went hunting; it was one that set its watch.

No one goes to Agra for the diversions of an amusement park. People go to see the Taj Mahal. That’s an experience that needs no enhancing.

When can you speak ill of the dead?

By Tom de Castella It's a month since the death of Michael Jackson - an event which triggered much worshipful coverage of the singer's life. Has enough time passed for a more impartial assessment of the man? When Michael Jackson died the global media cleared the decks for the King of Pop. But not everyone was reading the script. "This guy was a pervert," said Peter King, Republican state congressman for New York. "He was a child molester, he was a paedophile, and to be giving this much coverage to him day in and day out, what does it say about us as a country?" It's a hostage to fortune to say nice things when someone dies. And reacting to Jackson's one was particularly tricky Sam Leith The British satirical magazine Private Eye summarised the media's U-turn on Jackson thus: "What you didn't read in all the newspapers: 'Mad Paedophile Dead: Yesterday a 50 year-old mentally ill paedophile died in America.'" Our traditional response to a person's death can be summed up by the Latin "de mortuis nil nisi bonum dicendum est" - roughly translated "don't speak ill of the dead". But in the information age, where the news keeps on rolling and the notion of deference has long since been replaced by a fascination with fame, how does the old maxim hold up? A person's death is an opportunity for onlookers to sound magnanimous, sensitive and profound. But also stupid. When the controversial publisher Robert Maxwell drowned in 1991, the then prime minister, John Major, praised him as a "great character" who had given him "valuable advice". Maxwell was widely suspected of being a crook and a bully. So when, not long later, it emerged he had stolen hundreds of millions of pounds from the Daily Mirror pension fund, Major's praise looked foolish rather than gracious. Recently it has become fashionable for politicians to pay tribute to any number of celebrity victims. Risky talk Princess Diana's remains the defining celebrity death that set the tone for what was to come. As the feminist commentator Joan Smith put it 10 years after the event: "I came across many people who felt as I did: shocked by the sudden death of a well-known person, especially in such absurd and avoidable circumstances, but not personally involved." 'PUTTING THE BOOT IN' When Jade Goody (above) died in March, TV presenter Sir Michael Parkinson said she came to represent 'all that's paltry and wretched about Britain' He was criticised for his forthright comments Bishop Jonathan Blake, who presided over Goody's wedding, criticised Sir Michael for 'putting the boot in to a young woman so recently buried' Parkinson: 'Goody was exploited' But to speak out against the tide of grief was risky. "We were immediately perceived to be on 'the other side' - deficient in compassion, sympathy, empathy, whatever you want to call it." The death of Michael Jackson brings up many parallels. The funeral was moving for his fans but contained moments of extreme irony: "Ever since I was born, daddy has been the best father you could ever imagine," declared Paris Katherine Jackson. Families are entitled to such pronouncements but these days wise commentators take a nuanced view of someone's death, says the columnist Sam Leith. "It's a hostage to fortune to say nice things when someone dies. And reacting to this one was particularly tricky. For a long time he's been Wacko Jacko. So he wasn't someone who was unequivocally lauded." While Jackson was never convicted of child abuse - and was once acquitted - a finger of suspicion continued to hang over him. Residing in the stars President Obama's spokesman chose to balance the "spectacular performer" with the private individual whose life had many "sad and tragic" elements. And yet more desperate individuals began losing their heads with the most "egregious self publicising" from celebrities like Uri Geller and Brooke Shields who hadn't seen Jackson for years, says Leith. We obituarists do argue amongst ourselves - should you out someone's sexuality or mention that they may have committed suicide, for instance? Bob Chaundy And of course the politicians joined in. "A young man has left Earth, but now resides in the stars," said Diane Watson, the Democratic representative from California. Meanwhile in the Mother of Parliaments, Labour MP Keith Vaz tabled the following Early Day Motion: "That this House celebrates the life and music of Michael Jackson; commends the role his music has played… notes that he sold an estimated 750 million records worldwide and won 13 Grammy awards… and hopes that his legacy will endure." Leith believes politicians like Vaz make a "category error" when they posture in this way. "They appropriate cultural events. You wouldn't really expect Michael Jackson to ratify the Countryside Act 2000 so why should parliament say what a jolly good dancer he was?" Dr Johnson famously remarked: "In lapidary inscriptions a man is not upon oath" - in other words, feel free to embroider a bit when paying tribute to a man's life. But Bob Chaundy, former obituaries editor at BBC News says the days of the slavishly affectionate portrait no longer apply. "You try to create as true and full account of that person's life as you can. So with Michael Jackson you couldn't just talk about the music - you had to mention the allegations of paedophilia. This is obituary, not hagiography." Miserable, judgemental But an obituary needs to tell a story first and foremost. "You can't ignore the fact that he sold more records than any other artist. If he was just a child molester we wouldn't be writing about him." However, the boundaries of what can and can't be said are not always clear cut. Walter Cronkite: an obituary in the Guardian last week pulled no punches "We obituarists do argue amongst ourselves - should you out someone's sexuality or mention that they may have committed suicide, for instance?" The Reverend Tim Sledge, a vicar in Romsey, Hampshire, believes society has a confused reaction to death: "The media portrayal of a life has almost become like an autopsy." Sledge conducts 100 funeral services a year and says his primary task is to help people come to terms with their loss. "One of the ways to do that is to look back at a person's life and celebrate it. You need to steer a careful course, deal with it honestly but don't obsess about the bad parts or it becomes a cesspit." He admits there have been times, researching funeral subjects, when it seems nobody has a good word to say about the deceased. "With one chap wherever I turned, people said he was miserable, judgemental, anti-social. I thought, 'My goodness, what can I say?' "So I started his tribute with: 'Let's be honest, he could be a pretty cantankerous so-and-so.' And you could feel this palpable sense of relief spread around the church as people realised I wasn't just going through the motions." Honesty is crucial then, but he warns against concentrating on someone's flaws: "I think we've made a national sport of pointing out people's faults. The purpose of a funeral is not to be critical. It needs to be a balance of honesty and generosity." Below is a selection of your comments. I have never subscribed to the belief that death automatically confers sainthood. If a person was obnoxious in life, death did not change that. It is the ultimate hypocrisy to suddenly gush over how wonderful a person was when you couldn't tolerate them in life and, thinking about my own delightful family, usually means you have one eye on their will. Tact and diplomacy may be needed to spare the feelings of family, but a mouth kept firmly shut is probably the best policy although I concede that this could be difficult if it is a celebrity and the rest of the media are jumping on the ratings bandwagon. Christina, Parkstone I agree with the Rev Sledge. It is too easy to pick someone's life apart. We still suffer from this good guy/bad guy Hollywood syndrome whereas the truth is that we all have things we're ashamed of and all have redeeming qualities. Most of us would like to have some of our redeeming qualities remembered after our death, not just our failures. James Hodson, Montgenevre, France While they are alive, they have the opportunity to refute allegations, sue for slander or even change their lifestyle. Once someone is dead, they are defenceless so attacking them is seen as cowardly. Mark Lambert, Mildenhall, England A funeral is for the survivors: plain and simple. Those children of Michael Jackson are the ones who will need all the love and support of their community. Who are we to take something, twist it around, and come up with something that doesn't match their perceptions of their father. The same goes with ANY child who loses a parent, no matter what age. If we cannot allow for the POSSIBILITY of good as well as the bad to be involved in a person's life, then WHY are we being one-sided? Life is not made up of "black and white" aspects, but rather a multitude of colours. It is up to each of us to make up our own mind what colours a person's life's actions are composed. Darlene Forsman, Portland, OR, US Michael Jackson was found NOT GUILTY yet everyone has an opinion on whether this takes away from his musical legacy. He is and will always be bigger than Elvis and the Beatles combined. Can you not let the poor guy rest in peace? The fact that the British even think is OK to talk ill of the dead says more about the UK and the British people. What is left to celebrate of the UK when we put down the dead? Grako, Leicester If we're going to judge someone, forget popularity and glitter, ask; Did they make the world better? Did they genuinely improve another person? Did they perform any genuinely altruistic benevolent act? Did they accumulate wealth and fame for the benefit of others? If the answer to any of the above is yes, then they have done something worth mentioning. Otherwise stop bothering me about them. Andy Wilcock, Tunbridge Wells Throughout human history, people have eulogized the dead. In fact, I know no culture that has no eulogy. In many cultures, it is believed that saying good things about the dead helps the spirit to depart in peace and into a resting place, otherwise it roams about, meaning it becomes a restless ghost. There is nothing wrong in saying good thing about the dead as long as it is truthful. The hash truth is always left to history and historians. Everyone should remember that fact whether we are talking about Michael Jackson, Elvis, George Washington, John Kennedy, Jade Goody, Walter Cronkite, or General Patton. Bode Olakanmi, Cincinnati, USA While the media and his fans were fawning about the supposedly great artist (who hadn't released anything decent in years), the rest of us were sending each other a battery of tasteless jokes about what a weirdo Jackson was. Strange how the latter never got reported. Actually the first I heard of his death was when a mate texted me a joke about it. Neil Macdonald, Manchester uk I'm glad this article has been written as it echoes what my friends and I have been talking about recently, how people jump on a bandwagon when someone dies, regardless of how they were perceived when they were alive. Before Jade Goody died the media labelled her a racist but as soon as she was diagnosed with cancer she became the nation's favourite (I cannot remember being consulted on this!). Blame the media for this fickle use of celebrities to sell papers or magazines. James, London, UK Finally! It is such a relief to read a note like this one, where facts are weighed against sentiments. No one is perfect and in the end, the obituary should be a practical and concise summary of someone's life, not a blind praising document. Adrian Michael Jackson didn't cure illness, stop famine or heal the sick. He didn't even invent the Moonwalk. His one true claim to historical importance is as the first African American performer to conquer the mainstream of entertainment... but he was hardly the messianic figure that he's currently being depicted as. Stephen Saul, Brighton I can't believe how quick the text message 'jokes' start arriving on my phone as soon as someone notable has died. Nothing seems to be off limits either, I admit to selectively forwarding them to friends I know will get the irony of 'how bad is this?, what odious little troll dreamed that up? David Reilly, Loughborough, England