A Full and Meaningful Life
Feb. 10th, 2022 04:52 pmTwo posts in a row, I find that the scythe of Thanatos has decided to fall on another friend, this time ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
17catherines, a sudden and unexpected event. It yet another star that has fallen, as 17catherines was also a person who was engaged with the community and friends. She had well-considered political opinions and actions, a provider of foods, and was a writer of some wonderful stories about the stations of the Paris métro. A francophone, a Shakespearean, a poet, a choir singer (and fan of musicals), filker, an avid reader of speculative fiction, a thoughtfully spiritual person. Catherine was all this and so much more to those who were close to her, and I hasten to add we weren't that close, but close enough that ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
caseopaya and I went to her wedding to jesusandrew almost twenty years ago (we took our rats, it was that sort of gathering), and of course, the visit was returned several years later. I also recall her visiting caseopaya when she found herself in hospital and, of course, we would on occasion engage in some correspondence both worthy and amusing. Once again, I find myself reading through old journal entries that capture the spirit of the time, words in the ether holding fast in time.
In midst of these reflections, I had to continue my own life and work, of course. All grieving is personal, and I have learned over the years that my own can be awfully practical. It is not appeals to otherworldly powers that bring me solace but rather the existential considerations on the value of a productive and worthwhile life. Two days of workshops this week helping researchers how to use supercomputers so that they can make the discoveries and inventions that make our lives longer and more comfortable, followed by a day at eReseachNewZealand, where I gave a short presentation on the very topic of the need for such education and to have a formal and international certification for competency, and then followed with the first meeting of the year with my MHEd supervisor as we work through my dissertation on the economics of higher education and the delivery of online content. But as the example of 17catherine shows, the worthwhile life is not all about work (indeed, to refer to Hannah Arendt, required work must be transcended to free action), it's about what generates lasting meaning. It's about life without dead time.
17catherines, a sudden and unexpected event. It yet another star that has fallen, as 17catherines was also a person who was engaged with the community and friends. She had well-considered political opinions and actions, a provider of foods, and was a writer of some wonderful stories about the stations of the Paris métro. A francophone, a Shakespearean, a poet, a choir singer (and fan of musicals), filker, an avid reader of speculative fiction, a thoughtfully spiritual person. Catherine was all this and so much more to those who were close to her, and I hasten to add we weren't that close, but close enough that caseopaya and I went to her wedding to jesusandrew almost twenty years ago (we took our rats, it was that sort of gathering), and of course, the visit was returned several years later. I also recall her visiting caseopaya when she found herself in hospital and, of course, we would on occasion engage in some correspondence both worthy and amusing. Once again, I find myself reading through old journal entries that capture the spirit of the time, words in the ether holding fast in time.In midst of these reflections, I had to continue my own life and work, of course. All grieving is personal, and I have learned over the years that my own can be awfully practical. It is not appeals to otherworldly powers that bring me solace but rather the existential considerations on the value of a productive and worthwhile life. Two days of workshops this week helping researchers how to use supercomputers so that they can make the discoveries and inventions that make our lives longer and more comfortable, followed by a day at eReseachNewZealand, where I gave a short presentation on the very topic of the need for such education and to have a formal and international certification for competency, and then followed with the first meeting of the year with my MHEd supervisor as we work through my dissertation on the economics of higher education and the delivery of online content. But as the example of 17catherine shows, the worthwhile life is not all about work (indeed, to refer to Hannah Arendt, required work must be transcended to free action), it's about what generates lasting meaning. It's about life without dead time.
