On Character

Over the last few days, the best in human nature has shone through. (I prefer to see the good – there are far too many places you can gorge on things that aren’t).  I’ve seen plenty of examples of the generosity of spirit that still exists despite the virulent attack on the human race. 

It’s these people and their leadership in the community, through their acts of kindness in moments of disasters, often personal catastrophes is what makes us still have hope for humanity, That when this is over (& yes, this too shall pass), we may see a better society where more people have reconnected with themselves, with those they had gradually lost touch with, with Nature & with a sense of gratitude.

Once can still hope – after all, hope is what keeps us going.

Little hopes

With the world under lockdown, it’s easy to fall prey to the idea that the end is near. After all, there’s no hope at all, is there? Uncertainty everywhere, especially in the economics of life & living.

And yet.

Today, a colleague & his young son shared with a small group of people & their kid(s) how to learn to solve problems using MIT’s open source project called Scratch. It may not seem like much, but for the kids, it was a transportation to another exciting world. I know of at least three kids who went straight into their new-found tool & were still exploring it a couple of hours later.

Exploration.
Hope.
The kids show us the way.

PS: Thanks Rod & Archie.

Life in semi-enforced lockdown, weekend 1

Like in most Aussie households, Saturday’s in hours are Dad’s Taxi days. Ferrying the youngsters around to their music one-on-one & group lessons. It’s bonding time, both quality & quantity, when I’ve barely been home the rest of the week.

Not so this weekend. The conservatorium has sensibly chosen to either cancel lessons or take them online. It’s learning time for everyone – how do teach & learn music virtually. 

Both the 1:1 lesson & the group lesson have been done online. And in style. The kids adapted like ducks to water. It wasn’t perfect, sure. Asymmetric data transfer meant that there was lag. And lag means irregular rhythm. It didnt’ faze the kids who had a ball. The tutors had fun too. And interestingly, the whole family was around watching the kids orchestra have fun. I’m sure it was the same in every household too.

Telecommunication is quintessential at this time of isolation. Maybe we do miss the human touch, the spontaneous connections when we’re mobile.  Many others are quite easily done using technology. Like today’s music lesson.