#Yearof50. Entry 25: If

Did you miss these posts? I’m going to sneak in another one, even though I’m technically in my 51st year. Been reading Bono’s outstanding memoir “Surrender”, and there’s a sentence I can’t get out of my head. It goes like this: “…you have the people you need right there beside you if you can see them”.

This does not seem overly profound until you pause on the “if”. And there’s the rub. The “if” makes all the difference in the world. Take a moment to reflect on that. Did you miss the “if” in your life so far? Of course you did. We all do. We do it far more than we realize. Bono reflects on those “if”’moments to recognize the people who made a difference in his life.

Looking back on my “Yearof50” series I now realize I failed to mention the positive, and very important, intervention of Bjorn T. Ramberg (pictured), who inspired yours truly so much in my 1989/1990 first year Philosophy class at Queen’s, that I switched from my original concentration of Political Studies over to Philosophy.

Professor Ramberg literally blew this little fella’s mind away and was so engaging and brilliant. This was not an easy task as the lecture hall assigned was literally the furthest building on campus from my residence hall and I was then (and now) not a morning person.

So, I’d like to take a moment to recognize Professor Bjorn T. Ramberg, now at University of Oslo. There’s no reason for him to remember me, one of many in a first-year lecture course held 33 years ago. But I remember. It changed my way of looking at the world and the path I took.

With gratitude, Professor, and much blessings.