Sunday, March 19, 2006

Posthumously Speaking With Chris (Part 2)

I’d like to share a portion of another casual, yet candid e-mail written by my long-lost friend.
I love nature and I love the art of men. I love cities and oceans. I want to learn and experience as much of this life as possible. I am the type of person that will try almost anything once. I long to experience as much of life as possible. So where am I now and what am I trying to say. Nothing really, just giving you some insight into the person I am.

I want to be a dad and a teacher. I want to learn about life and give what I learn to other people. I believe that there is some purpose to life other than just being. I think that we are becoming better as people, but in order for this to happen we have to have both pleasant and unpleasant experiences. So we grow, and we pass this on to our children. I think that I have a good outlook on life and I want to pass this on. This is my sense of immortality.

Oh, Love is probably what I have faith in. I am a scientist and a hopeless romantic too. I have faith that love is a powerful force in this world. I know I sound like a hippie, but don't think I am like that. I vote Libertarian. I don't have a bleeding heart per se. I do want to go help third world countries, but I don't want to do this as charity. I would like to go as a teacher. I would like to go to Costa Rica and start up a chemical research company. I want to train locals. Teach them to be scientists. In this way I could get research accomplished and find new drugs ($) and at the same time increase the education of the undereducated. This is my idea of charity.
I really shouldn’t be surprised by the similarities in our thinking, our debates as teen-agers about everything from philosophy to politics to theology notwithstanding. In fact, I found out about his ‘libertarian’ leanings from this very e-mail; and he never knew of my ‘libertarian’ bent either. There was so much to discuss…

We ought to make the most of the time we have with our loved ones…for it is fleeting.

[see also: Part 1]

posted by Robert @ Sunday, March 19, 2006