Learning and understanding

This time of year is very difficult for me.  It was this week in 2012 that my life changed irrevocably.  Every year since then, I find myself reliving this week almost hourly.  I think about the circumstances that led up to this week, and the subsequent activities.  Some of them are easier to handle than others. Back in 2012, I had a minor operation in May which should have meant 2 - 3 days off work.  Instead, I was off for over a week, and then had a persistent infection that had me on antibiotics for most of the summer.  I was tired frequently, and my energy was low.  Checks with my GP suggested that I would need additional tests, but I was diagnosed with malabsorption and put on a special diet to improve my iron, vitamin and other levels. In September, I had planned to visit my friends in Europe, but that was canceled because of a change in their circumstances.  So I thought that I would surprise my parents with a visit home for their 45th ...

I was clearing some closets recently and discovered that I have a veritable graveyard of old technology.  Starting with a Palm V (anyone remember those?) through a mini-laptop and external drives.  I also found a box of old drive cables, including a serial bus cable. I remember when each of these was new, and how excited I was to get them.  The Palm V was supposed to replace my paper diary (it didn’t, not completely) and keep me more organized.  I did use it for the scheduling functions, but it often ran out of power. I think I spent more time playing solitaire on it than tracking my activities. Then I had my MP3 player.  I opted against the iPod, because I had a Zen that provided everything the iPod did for much less.  I used it almost daily for over a year — I even upgraded it — and then it fell into disuse when I changed offices and lost access to the radio feature.  My mini-laptop was my choice over a tablet; it was smaller and lighter than a t...

The first time is special, isn’t it?  To be the one to, pardon the pun, enter virgin territory. The person who is first is special, unlike others, is remembered for this accomplishment. Then there’s a wash of other, lesser mortals who are forgotten and the special nature becomes ordinary. We’re still marking “firsts” even now. Some of them are breakthroughs in science and medicine - first targeted DNA treatments for cancer; first driverless cars; robotic surgery... marvellous innovation!  Some firsts are, well, sadly coming late. It’s 2017, and still we’re looking at first black, first Asian, first woman to be recognized.  We should have had all of those behind us years ago. It adds to the sadness when we actually enter debates about who is the best first. Earlier this year, Canada wanted to introduce a woman, other than the Queen, on the currency.  Debates about the selection raged, with critics saying that while Viola Desmond was worth honouring there were othe...

Channeling some Bob Marley today. I couldn’t avoid this one. I’ve been trying, but it got too big.  So much anger is being displayed against inclusion, and my brain is not coping well. In my opinion, equity is essential to society. There is no argument for denying access to people that makes sense.  We’ve used all kinds of excuses:  women are too emotional to be in business; nursing is not for a man; black people don’t have the capacity to be academic; Chinese are good for mining work, and so on.  As time passed, we’ve gradually realized that these are all very stupid, weak and disgusting excuses for protecting the privilege of a few. Sadly, humans are human, and we can justify anything using any argument.  We have used texts that speak of love to excuse horrible behaviour, and then used more of the texts to condone more atrocities.  We have a web of illusion that allows us to pretend that “others” do all the wrong and we are blameless, but if we’re h...