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Staying Alive

An old joke about the plight of Soviet Jews tells of Khaimovich who applied to emigrate.  OVIR refused his application.
“But why?” protested Khaimovich.
“Because you are in possession of state secrets,” explained the OVIR official.
“State secrets?  You must be kidding.  In my field, the Americans are at least 20 years ahead of us.”
“That’s precisely the state secret.”

We use humor to give us power, especially when we feel powerless.
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