My best days are the ones on which i use my mind to learn new things. I suppose I’ve always been a student. I feel alive when I am walking on the campus of a university and contemplating all of the knowledge that is part and parcel of such places. I become a slug overcome with a case of the blues whenever I do not take the time to develop my brain. The days on which I teach and tutor students in mathematics are among my most joyful. The mornings when I rise early to write my blogs and read are the most satisfying. I am uplifted each time I attend a lecture at the Glasscock School of Continuing Education at Rice University. 

I recently enjoyed what I would define as a perfect day. I arose with the sun much as I usually do and spent some time reading in the hopes of finding a topic to consider for one of my blogs. To my great delight an article started a kind of stream of consciousness inside my head that led to connecting those thoughts to words and ideas that I quickly typed on a blank white screen until a theme for the day had developed. I never quite know which of my little essays will please those who read them. I simply pour out my heart and hope that in the process I might delight someone else. Even if nobody ever reads what I have created, the art of stringing together words into coherent ideas is a most joyful experience for me. 

On the particular day that felt so wonderful I followed up my writing by listening to an online lecture from Michael Sandel, a professor at Harvard University. It was part of readying myself for the philosophy class that I am taking this semester. The topic was justice, in particular a study of John Rawls’s Theory of Justice, something that has always been of great interest to me. If I had not been a teacher or if I had never decided to write I believe that I would have enjoyed being a lawyer or an advocate for those with limited resources. The question of justice is a topic that courses through my thoughts almost continuously and the lecture stirred my soul in ways that produced the happiness of discovery that has always been like a drug to me. 

Not only was I inspired by the clarity of Michael Sandel’s explanation of Rawl’s theories about justice but I enjoyed seeing the earnest faces of the students in his class and hearing the variety of their responses to the questions that he used to challenge them to think critically. When I realized that the video was only one of an entire series on what is right and how justice should be viewed I immediately watched another offering, using the entire morning engaged in thought. 

Soon duty called and I knew that I had to review the processes of solving rational equations to help a young student whom I have tutored for years. I first met him as a little boy who was confused and uncertain about his mathematical abilities. Now he is a junior in high school navigating quite successfully through Algebra II and looking forward to Pre-Calculus next school year. He is one of my all time favorite students with his shock of ginger hair and ready smile. Mostly I am overjoyed to see how mature and self assured he has become. He might be the poster boy for hopefulness for our future. 

My day went by so swiftly while I was engaged in academic pursuits but the best was yet to come. I had registered myself and my husband, Mike, for a special event at Rice University, a lecture from Dr. Peter Hotez, a world renowned virologist at Texas Children’s Hospital. I had listened to Dr. Hotez evening after evening on CNN during the pandemic. I found his information about how to navigate the ups and downs of Covid 19 to be on point and informational. He did not speak to his audience in baby talk. Instead he reported facts, often admitting that the doctors and scientists of the world were learning as the virus evolved. Thus we got a lesson in the anatomy of a new strain of infection night after night along with guidance on what to do to keep ourselves as healthy as possible. Because I followed his advice to the letter my husband and I made it through unscathed and I became an admirer of this incredible man who lives and works in my city.

His lecture was warm, honest and quite personal. We learned the story of his family and how he found his way to Texas Children’s Hospital. We found out more about the more traditional vaccine that he developed for countries without the refrigeration and supply chain capabilities needed for the kind of vaccines produced by pharmaceutical companies in highly developed countries. He gave away the patent of Corbavax to country wanting to use his formula which was then administered to millions of people. 

Dr. Hotez’s story is that of a man who has dedicated himself to the pursuit of science and truth. He has worked for his entire life to treat those who suffer from the ravages of diseases that are rarely studied by big companies that do not stand to make much money on products used for the poorest people in the world. He mostly worked quietly in his laboratory before Covid 19 hit the world when his expertise in viruses and vaccines pulled him into the fray of controversy regarding how we should respond to worldwide epidemics. Sadly the anti-science faction of the country has marked him as a demon when the truth is that he is an earnest man with a sweet smile whose goal has always been to help the least noticed among us. 

I ended my perfect day with dinner at an Italian restaurant where Mike and I toasted each other with wine and spoke about the event that we had just enjoyed. I so love that I am continually learning and evolving and progressing. Life is not about standing still and turning to stone. It is about the adventure of opening our minds to the possible.