Backwards Law

They call it a law, though no parliament passed it. Backwards Law is a law of behaviour, and it enforces itself.

What makes this law useful is that it is predictive. If you know it, you can see tomorrow morning's mistake tonight. That is as close to prophecy as ordinary life allows.

Stand at a tea stall during a big cricket match and you will see a hundred strangers become one family in an evening. The same crowd, given a different match, can split over a surname.

Society is a long conversation; the only question is whether you are listening or merely waiting to speak. Carry it lightly. Ideas, like umbrellas, are useful only when actually opened.