There I was, in my house sitting at the table in this incredible Caribbean island of Curaçao, my rock and my soul.
These days are a bit strange. We are facing so many challenges worldwide as we navigate through this pandemic. Three of my daughters have returned home from abroad, while one is studying here. So joyful, all of them here. Apart from work from home, the normal house chores and the less joyful but necessary “social distancing”, we are just trying to keep our sanity.
Recently I began what I like to call a “LCT” or “Learning Conversation Theme.” This time the theme was: What's worst, not to see or not to know? The question warrants different answers. However, of the different answers I selected one. From one of my daughters I got the following response: “Well Dad, I think more than not being able to see or to know, is to not understand. “
“Correcto el bingo!” I told her, offering of course my personal opinion. You know, the Romans used to say “Non solvere quod non intellegis”, meaning “You cannot solve what you don’t understand”. Throughout history, many people have been appointed in positions to manage. But once there, they seem not to understand what to do, simply because….they may see it, or they may not know it. Then again, they don’t seem to really understand the problem. Consequently, they make things worse. “Point taken, Dad”, she said.
“OK, still, we must move forward”, I continued.
“Well,” she said, “I think what comes after you understand is the necessity to think further.”
“Okay,” I intervened. “But how do you do that?”
And she said, “Dad, I think it’s all about imagination!
“Wow!” I responded, “Correcto el bingo!”
In retrospect, you can still have meaningful conversations (even stuck at home) and at the same time, learn that you first….try to really understand the problem, before you start fixing it.
Norberto V. Ribeiro
(April 2, 2020)
