Heading for the Head Doctor

This morning Sabina walked into my office to ask me how I was doing. I had just come from an unusually productive Azerbaijani lesson. "Excellent!" I replied.

She laughed.

She then proceeded to tell me a story that will give you quite a bit of insight into how Azerbaijanis see the world:

Several years ago Sabina was watching a television program featuring a very prominent Azeri psychologist. The psychologist was recounting an experience he had with a neighbor. "Every day I see my neighbor, Rafiq. We pass on the street. I ask him how he is doing. Every day Rafiq has the same answer: 'Excellent.'"

The psychologist, a very rotund and funny man, turns to the audience to finish his story.

"And so one morning I again ask Rafiq how he is doing. As always he tells me he is excellent. I stop him and look into his eyes and say, 'Rafiq, I think you will soon be on my couch." In this day, in this country, in this century, how can one be excellent every day? Only the mentally ill could have such a positive spin on life.

My lesson for the day: to keep up the illusion that I am mentally stable, I must be more pessimistic. Excellent.