Ross and I... Two Mathematicians Roaming Around...

Ross was a Good Man... He insisted that PEACE is indeed in our hands...

Just chatting with each other was fun enough... 
We talked about anything and everything... We talked about Iraq, like politicians... We talked about theater and concerts... and the jokes and the inconsequential things like knowing-it-all teachers and idiosyncratic administration... 
As usual, Ross was never judgmental... He reiterated his famous "they are allowed..." line... and that did not permit me to be judgmental too - though at times I was tempted to.. At times I wanted to admonish some actions and at times I just wanted to swear and vent... But the chatting was therapeutic and there was no need for swearing or throwing tantrums... at times a glass of wine helped too...
We did not have an schedule... but attended things that we liked...  and Ross knew my likes and dislikes... At one time he suggested that we "have" to see Copenhagen... the play at the Winter Theater... in Toronto... 
Ross was funny... 
The moment I consented to attend, he right away told me that he has already reserved the tickets... That's how he was... Man of fun and man of action... His patronizing tenancies were innocuous and not intrusive... It was just childish and no one should fault a child... I always remembered; "Let the children come to me..." and I was jovial and entertained by his  foibles... They were funny and harmlessly humane...
We agreed to attend Copenhagen on Friday... Fridays were our days... Ross was bubbling about it all day... and teachers and caretakers knew all about it... Ross had a habit to exaggerate just like any child will do... and at times it irritated me... just because I did not want to share what I was doing, what I will do with the teachers... I refereed to these as Rossian exaggerations... and he chuckled on that... he realized that he exaggerated things, but that was Ross... with childish simplicity and purity... His friends loved him for that...

With Ross exaggeration was his own figure of speech... It was fun and harmless... He didn't even "kick the ground..."

Copenhagen was an intriguing drama... saturated with existential questions and debates... During the intermission we had a glass of wine to sooth our overexcited nerves and Ross's overly active agitation... 
At one point, while sipping the wine, I blurted...
"Ross, I have to admit... I am an anarchist..."
He chuckled aloud, very loud... attracted the attention of the extremely well mannered, cocktail sipping and whispering audience... Ross was almost on the verge of telling the couple standing close to us, "You know he is an anarchist..." But luckily they moved to a new location because of his loud chuckle... 
What I meant is that I hate the ossification of the ruling establishment... I hate the war mongering and arms selling of the government promoted businesses ALL over the globe, government sectioned killings by those very arms... and because it works for onlly the few (maybe 1 or 2% of the global population...!) I do not much appreciate the status quo...
I want change... always, at all times... and Ross was with me in that... he appreciated my sentiments and my reasoning... I think deep down he was an anarchist too...
The next day teachers were joking... "What does anarchist mean...?", they asked... and I just smiled... But when one of them persistently irritated me, he was a religious dogmatist... and Ross and I called him religious fascist, I explained to him in a way that he might comprehend...
I explained; "The establishment has its hues of political groups...as yu go to the right of the spectrum you will meet various political groupings and one of them are the Libertarians... Maybe you are familiar with that... and on the anti-establishment politics there are all kinds and one of them is the Anarchists... In short the Libertarians are the Anarchist from the right and the Anarchist are the Libertarians from the Left..." 
We called this teacher "fascist" because once he argued with me about the peace symbol which I had students draw in my classroom and Ross 

loved it... He insisted that the peace symbol is Soviet Communism... 
I had told this to Ross and warned him to be careful with his dealings with the fascist and dogmatic teacher...

***

In the foreground, Michael Fox Kennedy, as Neils Bohr. explains his position to a resistant Gregory Lesch, as Werner Heisenberg, in this rehearsal moment from Michael Frayn's “Copenhagen.”

An account of the Bohr-Heisenberg meeting was offered in a book published in German in 1956 by a Swiss journalist, Robert Jungk. The translations into Danish in 1957 and into English in 1958 (Brighter than a Thousand Suns) contained an excerpted letter from Heisenberg to Jungk, in which Heisenberg gave his recollection of the meeting. After seeing the Danish edition, Bohr drafted a response to Heisenberg. But he did not send it, perhaps because he was concerned about hurting Heisenberg and his family. Responding to inquiries from historians and others about the meeting, Bohr continued to draft accounts of what had transpired at the meeting, but in each case he decided not to publish them nor to send them to Heisenberg. After Bohr’s death in 1962, the Bohr family sealed these documents among his private papers. There has been lengthy debate and speculation about Heisenberg’s motives and statements during the meeting, culminating most recently in the Tony-award-winning play Copenhagen by the British playwright Michael Frayn. What did Heisenberg believe could be done, and should be done, about atomic bombs? What did he want from Bohr? These questions called up many powerful issues and emotions involving Nazi Germany and nuclear war. In Frayn’s reimagining of history, the spirits of Heisenberg, Bohr and Bohr’s wife, Margrethe, meet after their deaths to attempt to answer the question that Margrethe poses in the first line of the play, “Why did he [Heisenberg] come to Copenhagen?”  They spend the remainder of the two-act drama presenting, debating and rejecting theories that may answer that question.

***

Recently an student-friend wrote...

I read through your blog last night, I liked it.  

The problem with organized religion is that it is supposed to be there as a support for people who need it, but it has become very hierarchical.  Without the hierarchy, I think it's a wonderful thing.  For example, at my church, the vartabed [means priest] is there as a support for us, like a father.  I know that you know him, and I'm not sure how people outside of our community see him, but I see him there as a support.  He doesn't demand, or command, anything from us.  My new years resolution this year is to start a Sunday School at my church.  When I told him this, he was very excited and asked me if I need anything from me.  He gave me ideas, suggested ways to advertise it and so on.  There was no control issues.  I think he realizes that if people want to do something, they will, and he doesn't feel the need to push responsibilities onto people.  I'm actually pretty excited about it.  If I get enough registration I'll be starting the first Sunday of February!

[Indeed I know the priest and he is one of the few that I will call people's priest... and you have a wonderful New Year's resolution... to help others... in your own unique way... I wish all of us will adopt that... Going out of our skin and helping others...]


I realized this year that I needed to have a resolution that was concrete.  People always make resolutions that are up in the air, "I want to be a better person", "I want to be healthier", "I want to exercise"...these set themselves up for failure.  
How can any of that be proven? 
I feel like planning to DO something FOR a group of people is more likely to actually happen because you make a promise to a group of people.  I even decided to get the "youth" together as well.  I organized a dinner for the almost 30 group and I'm helping the early 20s group have an event next weekend.  This year I'm going to involve myself more in the community.  I feel like it's healthy for me and for those around me.  Like you said in your blog, I feel that my church is a very uplifting and peaceful place.  It makes me happy to involve myself and promote it. 

[All the power to you... You did AP Calculus and I know that you can do this and much more... Indeed everyone CAN... The only requirement is coming out of their skin...]

I had some friends come to visit this past weekend from New York, they came for the Armenian YP [Youth] Christmas party in Toronto.  I was very nervous about it.  I went last year, and that was the start of my seizures and my chemo, so obviously it left a very bad taste in my mouth.  I was very pleasantly surprised though when I went this year, and I had a good time.  Sometimes it just takes someone from the outside to come and give us a push to do things we aren't the most comfortable with.

[You are always in my mind... The way you are dealing with your health issues is superhuman and wonderful... You are one of the few who have overcome self-pity and are exuding positive energy and emanating hope to your community and students...]

I had a chance to read through your Mr. Oakes blog as well now, I think it was really well written.  He was very lucky to have a friend like you and vice versa.  I think we all need friends that we can feel connected to on many different levels such as intellect, religion, philosophy, and emotion.  When we can find people like that, we really are blessed beyond anything else.  People have always told me that health is the number one most important thing in life.  After what I've been through, I completely disagree.  Health is nothing without people to share your life with.  I would rather be unhealthy and surrounded by love than be healthy and completely alone. 

[Ross was a wonderfully plain person... Intellectually he was very simple... in that simplicity was his power and prowess... When he uttered; "You are allowed..." It made me think... and miraculously, it solved ALL the problems... Ross did not need AP Calculus to solve problems... He was the mathematician without numbers... and I loved him for that... We were to mathematicians roaming around... and we were happy...]