I do understand, with the internet and e-mail, a person can get a wide variety of perspectives on what is happening in our own lives and in the lives of others.
I’ve been a bit of an internet hog for about 15 years and I find e-mail a fantastic way to communicate with friends, family, colleagues and others.
What I find is that I have gained a better understanding of my friends’ viewpoints on life by reading the material they forward, as opposed to direct discussion, q&a correspondence and the like.
I have several communicators on my list with what I might see as ‘very peculiar senses of humour’. Often, but far from always, coinciding with my own admittedly ‘different’ - some would say skewed - mind on matters of interest.
A pal in the Charlottes (I’m not yet ready to refer to QCI as Haida Gwaii) forwarded me a fascinating list of what he called adult truths. I don’t know who originated the list, but I acknowledge my next few comments are expansions of a couple of these, and I recognize the creator.
One that tweaked with me particularly was - “nothing sucks more than the point in an argument when you realize you are wrong.”
Have you ever heard anything quite so true? I’ve come nose-to-nose with that point frequently – and as an opinion writer, it behooves me to say so, at least once in a while. That’s not a new truism either.
But one that was new to me was also very self-evident: “part of a best friend’s job should be to immediately delete your computer history when you die.”
No doubt many people go on a computer to places they wouldn’t want to explain. This is not necessarily a condemnation, many sites have links in particular that can constitute an unexpected personal “Alice in Wonderland” journey to the centre of the earth.
Delete that...please!
By the way, I’ve been re-reading Edgar Rice Burroughs, Robert Louis Stevenson and R.M. Ballantyne, online, re-creating juvenile memories of a youth at the old Carnegie Library - all are in the public domain!
I have to say, “The Coral Island,” “Ungava” and the old Tarzan and John Carter series captured action and adventure for me as a boy, but I suspect young people today would prefer more esoteric fare.
Yet another adult truth I have to subscribe to: “I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.”
Don’t tell me “it shows”, I know. That’s on my resolutions list.
But before I get to it, most days I recognize I’ve hit that point in the day when I just know I’m not going to get much productive stuff done.
Another - “the first testicular guard was used in hockey in 1874 – but it wasn’t until 100 years later, men in Canada used the helmet.”
Women have been laughing for years about us taking so long to figure out our brains were important too.
Another is an extension of something I’ve thought myself, and written about: “Can we all agree to ignore whatever comes after Blue Ray? None of us wants to start our collections again.
GPS machines in our car should be programmable enough to begin the guidance process somewhere around step five when you start from home ... I’m pretty sure I can get out of my own neighbourhood.
Lastly, I had this e-mail that I pass along because I agree with it, wholeheartedly.
“What have we learned in 2,065 years? The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest Rome become bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance.”
The writer? Cicero - presumably, in Rome, in 55 B.C. - but still something I think could be very meaningful to all potential candidates for both the leadership of the governing Liberals and the opposition NDP in B.C. 2011.
ahewitson@telus.net