Recently I heard about a Scotchman who was admitted to Oxford University. He moved into a dormitory. His clan was excited that one of their own made it into such an exclusive school. His mother worried, though, how he'd do with all those snobbish Brits in a strange land. She gave him a month to settle in, and then called him. "How do you find the English students, Donald?" she asked. "Oh Mother," he said, "they are strange and noisy people. The one on this side bangs his head against the wall all night and won't stop. The one on that side screams and curses until the sun comes up at dawn."

"Oh Donald," said his mother, "How do you put up with such rude, noisy, people?" "I ignore them, Mother," said Donald. "I just sit here quietly each night, playing my bagpipes." (1)

In the earlier year…