I phoned my nephew the other day. I hadn't spoken to him for years but he kindly took my call. I was calling to ask him to review the worth of his grad school work in a sentence or two. The grad school work that was completed five or ten years ago. He kindly gave me a quick assessment of the current applicability of the studies he made. Given that he now works in machine learning, the earlier studies didn't apply very much.
My cheap computer is quite slow. I am trying to use its retarded speed as a prompt to practice patience.
When you wait a long time, what you are waiting for can come as a surprise. My nephew waited for years and then entertained my call politely, fully and usefully. I admire doing that and I appreciate his action.
In 1654, Pascal wrote that all of man's problems stem from an inability to sit quietly alone in a room. My nephew, my computer and the recent Columbus Day got me to thinking. Just think of Queen Isabella devoting considerable funds to launch three ships western. Christopher and his crew left Spain with little guidance on August 3, 1492 and they didn't reach land until October 12. All during that time, Isabella and her husband and his government got not a single telegram, phone call, text message or other communication. They just had to wait.
Election Day is November 3. Let's all wait until January 12, 2021 before we ask about election results. Let's just sit quietly alone in a room while counting, screams, charges and counter-charges are filed and refuted. It'll be good for us. We don't need everything instantly. Ok, take your phone in with you.
