ROLFF P.

Certainty makes me suspicious.

I am fascinated by people, especially by the gap between who we think we are and what we actually do when love, fear, money, pride, or desire enters the room.

I live in Portugal with my wife and family, where I have learned that human nature is easier to observe around a dinner table than inside most theories. Marriage has made me wiser, fatherhood has made me humbler, and both have provided excellent evidence that I understand considerably less than I once thought.

I ask too many questions. I change my mind when the evidence deserves it. I enjoy uncomfortable ideas, inappropriate jokes at appropriate moments, long conversations, good coffee, and people who are complicated enough to surprise me.

I distrust perfection, motivational slogans, and anyone who claims to have discovered the seven rules for living correctly.

I have no seven rules.

I am still figuring things out.

That is probably why I keep writing.