Monday, September 25, 2006

*What did you do on your summer holiday?*

This is a "What did you do on your summer holiday?" type of essay.

We, my wife and I, went to New York City. We spent four days there and then departed from there on a cruise ship which took us to Halifax, then south to Bar Harbor, Boston, Newport and back to NYC.

While in NYC we went to the Museum Of Modern Art. There we saw an exhibition of Da-Da, which was highly recommended. We were lucky because by change we caught it in on its last day. Da-Da was an antibourgeois art movement started in 1916 to protest the hypocrisy of authority and the political order of the day. It mirrors a skepticism. It still seems relevant and appropriate for this day and age, considering the political events in America and all. You could see that the art on display had a rebellious nature about it and showed little deference to a ruling order. When Da-Da first appeared it must have really jolted the art world. Today, though still provocative, it seems no more than a curiosity and mainstream. However, the message of Da-Da is still there, agitating the senses and questioning the status quo.

Before we left on the trip I bought two books to read. One book was entitled "Democracy, A History", by John Dunn and the other "A History of the World in 6 Glasses", by Tom Standage. I always want to make connections between things and events. In this case it was between these two books and my trip. There certainly is a connection between the books because they both deal with social evolution and human enlightenment. The book by Standage, about the world's 6 major liquid refreshments, probably had more to do with my trip because I drank them all. As for Dunn's book on Democracy and its connection, I wasn't that aware of my partaking in Democracy while traveling, although I am sure that the trip would not have been possible without our living in a Democracy. The ship itself wasn’t a paragon of democracy but it certainly was surrounded by it.

We left for NYC on 9/11. As it happens, we also left on a cruise from NYC in 2004 on 9/11. I mention 9/11 because I thing it has a significance on what we experienced on our trip. The world came to a halt after 9/11. People believed that globalization would come to an end and that international travel would be greatly reduced. On the contrary, globalization and international travel have increased since, to levels even higher that before 9/11. This indicates to me the world before 9/11 had something that was worth perpetuating. It also showed the resilience of that world in that it came roaring back, stronger. The terrorists that cause 9/11 believed it was an unjust and corrupt world. But their attack strengthened the resolve to continue and improve on that world. The fact that globalization and international travel continue to grow is a good indication that the attacks of 9/11 really validated the trajectory of the world prior to 9/11 rather that repudiated it, as some believed it would. Our being in NYC traveling and cruising with thousands of others, along with our onboard staff from 42 nations, was also testimony to the international environment that has developed around us, one of interdependence and cooperation.

The cruise had a speaker on board to entertain some of us. He was Harm de Blij. He wrote a book "Why Geography Matters". He talked about his book and the fact that Americans in general knew very little geography and that universities like Harvard stopped teaching it long ago. He said that if the Bush administration had known its geography it might not have started a war with Iraq. Personally, I thought the war had nothing to do with Bush's ignorance of geography but had to do with revenge and a corrupt ideology. I was surprised he got so political about his subject. Nevertheless, I relished it. He also talked about climate change and how the present American government has tried everything to deny and ignore it.

Speaking of climate change, on board the ship I got the opportunity to finally see Al Gore’s movie “ An Inconvenient Truth”. It may have exaggerated some points but I think overall it made a truly valid case. I don’t understand how so many people can still deny that human activity is not affecting the climate of the world. After all, the human activity of the last century has increased dramatically, not only in changing the landscape of the world but also in adding tons of pollutants into the air. The evidence is there. The movie didn’t mention 9/11. I think it should have been because of what occurred on 9/11. Airplanes were grounded for four days and in those four days the skies were noticeably cleaner. That happening really showed that human activity has had a huge impact on the quality of our air. From that event a rational mind can understand that even the human activity of air travel can contribute to some form of climate change.

After leaving the ship we took a cab to the airport. Our cab driver was a Pakistani. This reminded me of something I had read, that Muslim immigration to America was on the increase, after a large drop following 9/11. I believe this development is a validation of what followed 9/11. What followed 9/11 was a mindset that continued to accept and not reject a civilization that truly recognized and offered life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. For a few years after 9/11 Muslims did not come to America because they were restricted and felt unwanted. However, after things settled down Muslims started again to immigrate to America in larger numbers from all over the Islamic world. Say what you will about America, but the reason they started again coming to America is because America’s culture recognizes individual rights, which their cultures did not. In America Muslims find that they are free to worship as they wish and that they have the economic opportunities that were denied them back home.

Sunday, September 10, 2006

The significance of 9/11

An article appeared in the Los Angeles Times by Brendan Simms, a lecturer in history at the Center of International Studies, Cambridge University. The article was "9/11: Historic Turning Point, or Bump in the Road?" He wrote that we will have to wait some time before the terrorist attacks fit into history's big picture.

After reading Brendan Simms' article I came to a conclusion about one big significance of 9/11. It didn't change the world that much. Yes, it changed some of the mechanics of running the world. However, it was more a sign of validation than change. It validated a civilization that most of us have a stake in, one that has given us, to use Simms' references, motor cars and prosperity. Most of the world personally felt the attack on the WTC like it was an attack on their civilization. It validated the interdependent world we live in. It validated globalization and world travel, things which came roaring back and increased after 9/11. On this validation the future is being built.

Saturday, September 09, 2006

Idea Framing

Because my last post was about being a picture framer I thought I would revisit a related post I did last year. It's related because it's also about framing, not about picture framing but idea framing. As a result, I think of myself not only as a framer of pictures but also as a framer of ideas:

Isaiah Berlin said that philosophers are adults who persist in asking childish questions.

Does that mean that adults who ask childish questions are philosophers? Not necessarily. For one to be a philosopher, childish questions should be followed by reflection and possible explanations. For example, Albert Einstein is considered a philosopher because he reflectively answered his own childish questions. One of the biggest childish questions he asked was, “Did God have any choice in how he created the world?” All his life Einstein developed thought experiments and theories that showed reasonably well that God did not have a choice if the world is to be the way it is.

I’ve asked childish questions. In my attempt to answer them I haven’t necessarily become a philosopher but I did turn to philosophy to answer them. What philosophy offers an inquisitive person like myself is a toolkit of ideas and methods for understanding and explaining. One thing I know is that many of the childish questions I have asked don’t have simple answers. Sometimes they have contradictory answers. Philosophy helps put the contradictions into perspective and sort out the confusion that can arise from them. In the process philosophy has helped develop lucidity in my thinking and an ease of thought that never existed before. I've often said that if there were no contradiction in the world we wouldn't need philosophy to help figure things out.

One of my big childish questions was, “Why is the world the way it is?” I didn’t ask it in the wonderment of its physical nature as Einstein did, but in the wonderment of its social evolution. I was thinking about its political and economic development. I wanted to know why humankind organizes and governs itself the way it does. I saw a singular, standard system of human organization and governance emerging. I wanted to know why.

I say my question was a childish one because in a sense it was like asking why the sky is blue. The standard answer to that question usually is, “Because! that’s the way it is.” However, with me, as it is often with children, that statement is usually followed by “But why?”

I can’t think of a childish question Berlin might have asked. I know that he was deeply against the idea of determinism, the philosophy that believes that there is a particular determining social force in the world. He knew that historically this philosophy often led to human subjugation. For instance, both Hitler and Stalin believed in social determinism, which they fashioned into totalitarianism and the subjugation of their people. The people who didn’t fit into their deterministic visions were often imprisoned or completely eliminated. Perhaps the childish question Berlin may have asked is, why has humankind been so brutal and insensitive to itself?

Saturday, September 02, 2006

Life!

I am a picture framer. I became one by accident. I am self-employed and like it that way. A lot of good things have happened to me by accident or things not being planned.

This got me thinking about how and why things happen. I mean, I could have ended up working for somebody else. However, there was something about me that said I wanted to be self-employed. I didn't know that at the beginning of my employment life but that is how it developed, just naturally. Also, the trajectory I took in life ensured that I did not work for anybody else. When I did work for somebody else it was either temporary or I got fired. I got fired from at least four jobs. And some jobs I applied for I didn't get because I was told I was over qualified. The whole experience was as though it was predetermined that I be independent and work for myself. Perhaps, too, I eventually realized I could not work for anybody else. My calling was to be independent. Events in time confirmed this, that independence was in my blood.

Most likely I got my independence and need to work for myself from my mother. She was independently minded. It was late in her life but she eventually went independent. She started a shop selling things from South America, a continent she became very intrigued with. The shop was called House Of The Americas; La Casa De Las Americas in Spanish. I helped around the shop now and then. As an added attraction my mother began selling paintings with themes of Latin American. They were always sold unframed. And this is what got me thinking about framing, because some people wanted their painting framed. We then introduced framing for those who wanted it.

My mother's store had three different locations; the first two locations were in Toronto's Yorkville district and the third in a small town west of Toronto. That is when I really became involved in her enterprise. I started and ran a cafe in that store. But I felt isolated in this store, in this small town. I wished and wished I had my own store in Toronto, in the city. Lo and behold, as though it was preordained, the opportunity arose.

It was extraordinary how I got my first store in Toronto. I mean, I could never have afforded it or its location if it didn't happen the way it did. I didn't have much money. The store was in a pretty prime location. How it all happened is that my mother had an acquaintance who had a gift shop. This women was wanting out of the gift shop but wasn't about to give it up completely. She suggested that I take over her store, pay the rent and sell her merchandise, and as I did I kept a percentage of sales. There was no startup cost involved for me, so it was like landing in a ready-made situation. I also saw the opportunity to introducing framing into the store because something else was needed to make money and attract people. Another good thing is that there were no framers in the area.

One moral of the story is that I saw an opportunity and wasn't afraid to take it. The opportunity was the store falling in my lap, a store that I had dreamed about. Another good thing is that it all happened with little investment. The biggest investment I made was my buying an air conditioner for the shop. I borrowed money from the bank to buy it. That was the first loan I ever made and that loan established my credit rating. I paid the loan back in three months.

That is one of the nice accidents that happened to me. But really, it was no accident. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time. I was also fortunate to have the wherewithal to sense a good opportunity when it came along and grab it. Ultimately, I made the luck that caused this to happen. But it also came from how I was nurtured and brought up, to have confidence and be prepared.

Not every aspect of this story is unique. But there is uniqueness about it in that it is an individual's story. Is there a philosophy involved? I suppose there is, one of letting things transpire and unfold. Don't force things too much and be realistic.