Marc Reflects

  By Marc Reflects | September 2025 I keep coming back to a saying that has lingered in my mind: "On trouve le sage là où il y a la souffrance et le sot là où on s'amuse." "You find the wise where there is suffering, and the fool where there is amusement." At first glance, it feels almost like a rule carved into human experience: suffering breeds wisdom, pleasure fosters folly. But the more I reflect, the more I realize that this is not just a simple truth—it is a mirror of human nature, revealing our contradictions, our blind spots, and the choices we make in response to life’s pressures. The Quiet Classroom of Hardship Suffering is often silent, personal, and unavoidable. A difficult childhood, the loss of a loved one, chronic illness, or economic hardship—these are experiences no one seeks, yet they are teachers in ways that comfort rarely can be. I’ve noticed in my own life and in observing others that wisdom tends to emerge in the cracks of disco...

  By Marc Reflects | September 2025 The Invisible Burden I recently finished reading The Art of Sanctions by Richard Nephew, and it left me thinking about something we rarely see in headlines: the daily lives of people who actually live under sanctions. When policymakers talk about pressure, leverage, and strategic outcomes, the human story often disappears. Sanctions are intended to influence governments, but the ones who feel the weight are ordinary families. I imagine parents rationing food, searching endlessly for medicine, or wondering if the next day will bring more uncertainty than the last. Nephew explains the mechanics of sanctions with precision, yet I found myself lingering in the spaces he only hints at—the quiet, unrecorded acts of survival. The Human Art of Endurance What struck me most was how people respond creatively under pressure. In Iran, for instance, communities have embraced a “resistance economy,” focusing on local production and alternative trade...