I was old enough at 63 to have acquired my share of wrinkles, grey hair, and the comprehension that my case was not tragic, not the tragedy, for instance, of a young woman robbed of her maturity.
The doctor she went off, mid-process, to fetch was probably more or less human too – by that point my judgment was somewhat impaired – but neither appeared to have even the most basic comprehension of my position.
"The incompetency in this government is beyond comprehension, from my brother on down," he said.
You can tell that from the facts that are presented to you, and the research must have taken hours that are beyond comprehension by my mind.
This was exacerbated by the complete lack of comprehension of my actions by the people I worked with.
Alekhine had written that success in chess required "Firstly, self-knowledge; secondly, a firm comprehension of my opponent's strength and weakness; thirdly, a higher aim –... artistic and scientific accomplishments which accord our chess equal rank with other arts".
My Spanish was pretty good in a classroom but my comprehension depended on how committed my interlocutor was to being understood.
While the reality of working in a busy office is that there is little time for extended conversation with my colleagues, my comprehension nonetheless benefits from listening to the lightningbolt exchanges fired between publishers and authors throughout the day.
I was a top-of-class student in my motherland, but in English-speaking California, my comprehension of the foreign language was at a level at least five years below my age.
Why anyone would join Isis is beyond my comprehension, so having the ability as a parent to stop my child ever coming to harm would be welcome.
