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jrtomUnlike most of my LJ entries, this one is posted here mostly for my own sake--my memories have already faded somewhat, and I want to remember this later. I won't lock it or disable comments, but I'm not really looking for feedback.
The night before Megan and I returned to California after spending Christmas with my family in what I insist on calling the Arid Zone (Tucson), Dad and I had a talk, at his request. I'd been helping Z (younger sibling, sort of--long story) train for the running portion of the ROTC test, with which he's been struggling. (Those of you who remember that I have flat feet may well laugh; I was pleasantly surprised at how well I did, actually.)
Dad started out by thanking me for helping Z with that; Dad had been helping him, but he recognizes that I can badger Z--and get him to listen--in ways that don't work for Dad.
Then Dad talked about the gradual preparations that he had been making at work for his eventual retirement (Dad is a pediatrician at the U of Arizona medical school's hospital), basically in terms of finding people to fill the various roles that he has taken on over the years. This turned out to be a lead-in for him talking about the same thing in the context of our family. (Fortunately, Dad is in good health; I think that turning 60 recently caused him to start thinking about things like this.)
Basically, what it boiled down to is that Dad seems to think that I'm turning out pretty well as a person. I don't think that I'll ever be to our family what Dad has been, although I have hopes of being something analogous to the family that Megan and I have started. I don't mean to imply that I think that Dad is perfect, by any means, but I do have a lot of respect for his opinions, for various reasons.
Personally, I think I have a good ways to go yet. I agree with Dad that learning, and needing, to ask the right questions is perhaps one of the most important qualities to inculcate in one's offspring. (Among other things, we talked about my reflections on how I think that my research could be used, or misused, and about what I should say to my own children should they find themselves in a similar position.) But I've gradually been deciding that discussing my opinions with my friends isn't enough, as a means of dealing with the problems that I see. Toward this end I've become more politically active--"not a lot, you know", but it's not enough: doing tech support for ElectionProtection was good, and useful, but it was too little, too late. Similarly, asking the right questions is great. But there are a lot of questions that I could easily answer by default...and that's not enough, either.
But regardless, it was good to hear.
The night before Megan and I returned to California after spending Christmas with my family in what I insist on calling the Arid Zone (Tucson), Dad and I had a talk, at his request. I'd been helping Z (younger sibling, sort of--long story) train for the running portion of the ROTC test, with which he's been struggling. (Those of you who remember that I have flat feet may well laugh; I was pleasantly surprised at how well I did, actually.)
Dad started out by thanking me for helping Z with that; Dad had been helping him, but he recognizes that I can badger Z--and get him to listen--in ways that don't work for Dad.
Then Dad talked about the gradual preparations that he had been making at work for his eventual retirement (Dad is a pediatrician at the U of Arizona medical school's hospital), basically in terms of finding people to fill the various roles that he has taken on over the years. This turned out to be a lead-in for him talking about the same thing in the context of our family. (Fortunately, Dad is in good health; I think that turning 60 recently caused him to start thinking about things like this.)
Basically, what it boiled down to is that Dad seems to think that I'm turning out pretty well as a person. I don't think that I'll ever be to our family what Dad has been, although I have hopes of being something analogous to the family that Megan and I have started. I don't mean to imply that I think that Dad is perfect, by any means, but I do have a lot of respect for his opinions, for various reasons.
Personally, I think I have a good ways to go yet. I agree with Dad that learning, and needing, to ask the right questions is perhaps one of the most important qualities to inculcate in one's offspring. (Among other things, we talked about my reflections on how I think that my research could be used, or misused, and about what I should say to my own children should they find themselves in a similar position.) But I've gradually been deciding that discussing my opinions with my friends isn't enough, as a means of dealing with the problems that I see. Toward this end I've become more politically active--"not a lot, you know", but it's not enough: doing tech support for ElectionProtection was good, and useful, but it was too little, too late. Similarly, asking the right questions is great. But there are a lot of questions that I could easily answer by default...and that's not enough, either.
But regardless, it was good to hear.