Nothing Is Impossible
Google Doodle honors today one of my heroes—
Fridjtof Nansen, arctic explorer, champion skier,
first to cross Greenland interior on skis in 1888,
humanitarian, and 1922 Nobel Peace Laureate.
I compiled 35 postage stamps honoring Nansen
on a web page, but my most memorable quote
from him is "The difficult takes a little while;
the impossible a little longer."
Whenever I encounter difficulties in
research or writing, Nansen's advice
reminds me not to give up, but march
forward until the task is complete.
An event 41 years ago burns in my memory—
Friday, August 20, 1976 with Paul Brunton (PB)
in Switzerland. He didn't know I was coming
and went to a Montreux Bank for some cash.
PB treated me for lunch as I was starving
with no money. He had to go back to his
Blonay apartment to get his library card,
put my heavy luggage in Vevey storage
on my way to Geneva airport, upgrade my
TWA ticket in Lausanne after the library,
shopping before store closing at 5 pm.
I checked my train schedule and said
"impossible to cover 4 cities in 4 hours".
PB replied— "Nothing is impossible!"
yelled "Taxi" with the driver taking
us to Blonay. The inn was filled
so he let me stay in his apartment.
We took the Blonay train to Lausanne,
where Paul Valery's book was checked out,
then to TWA office where he paid 50 francs
extra charge for my airline ticket,
got an Osram light bulb to prevent
psychic attacks by negative entities,
and finished grocery shopping for dinner.
I still can't believe what PB had done
all those chores in 4 cities in 4 hours—
such is the sage who told me that
"Yoga is skill in action."
Peter Y. Chou
Mountain View, 10-10-2017
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Norway B18, 30+10 öre
(issued October 21, 1940)
Fridtjof Nansen (1861-1930)
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Nansen's Farthest North
(1897) from Norwegian
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Paul Brunton in Vevey
(1898-1981)
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Brunton's The Quest (1986)
Notebooks: Volume 2
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