I have been taken by this old Celtic saying  “Never give a sword to a man who cannot dance”.

In this world of Terror, and the war against it, the wisdom that one should not be in charge of a lethal weapon unless one can dance, takes on an even greater meaning. It’s about the idea that one should not be in charge of lethal weapon unless one has the grace, refinement and consideration to be a good dance partner. I suspect that if we’re prepared to work hard not to stand on our partner’s toes, while considering their needs, we’re less likely to kill folks without equal care and consideration.

Maybe no world leader should be able to run for election unless they first get to a reasonable level on Dancing with the Stars?

Outside of the world of the military, the risks in civilian life are somewhat different.

To this end, I recently read Prof Dan Ariely’s fascinating book, Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions (link below) that explores a huge range of research into why we humans repeatedly make irrational decisions in all areas of life (in essence because of the power of our unconscious mind – the part that everyone tends to think is not that important). The relevant section here was on the research into the very different decisions that intelligent, responsible male university students make when thinking rationally, versus when they are sexually aroused. Once aroused, despite what they would do when they are not: condoms, saying ‘no’ and her age, all suddenly become much less important – with major ramifications for safe sex promotion to teenagers … and then add being intoxicated into the mix as well …

For those of you who are interested in how our minds consistently arrive at seemingly irrational decisions, sexually or otherwise, here’s the book: