Through strange coincidence, I once met Sir Edmund Hillary
on a flight from New Zealand to Singapore. I remember him as a towering figure,
very tall, like a force of nature. He smiled at me, and went back to whatever
he was doing in the front row of coach class. He and I also happen to share the
same birthday.
This article is a tribute to him.
"Burra Sahib (big
Sahib), our children have eyes but they are blind and can not see. Therefore,
we want you to open their eyes by building a school in our village of
Khumjung", was the answer from a Sherpa friend to Sir Edmund Hillary's question
in 1960 how he could help Nepal's Sherpa people. He immediately went to work
to raise funds and was able to build the school one year later.
"It is impossible not to see that they lack all the
things that we regard as essential in life. They don't have schools and they
don't have any medical care or anything of this nature. And I suddenly decided
that instead of just talking about it - why didn't I try and do something about
it.", he said, explaining the reasons for establishing his humanitarian
project, the Himalayan Trust, to assist the impoverished in Nepal.
Since this first school, the Himalayan Trust has built a
further 26 schools and provides financial support to an additional 33. The
Trust expanded its work beyond education and now includes projects related to
health, reforestation and cultural preservation, ensuring that all projects are
planned and implemented jointly by the local community and the Trust. With international support from various Hillary and
Himalaya foundations in the the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and
Germany, the Trust:
provided scholarships for Sherpa children
built two hospitals and more than 12 health clinics
initiated a reforestation program with three nurseries
became involved in cultural preservation through the
rebuilding and renovation of local monasteries, Chortens (pagodas) and prayer
wheels.
built Lukla airport (gateway to Everest) in 1964 to
facilitate the transport of building materials, equipment, hospital and school
supplies. Today, this airport has become one of the busiest domestic airports
in Nepal, bringing economic prosperity for the local people.
Today, Sir Edmund Hillary passed on, at the age of 88. The
world probably knew him best as the first person, together with Sherpa Tensing
Norgay, to conquer Chomolungma (Mount Everest), the highest mountain on Earth -
part of the Himalaya range between Nepal and Tibet. On May 29th, 1953 "I
continued on, cutting steadily and surmounting bump after bump and cornice
after cornice looking eagerly for the summit. It seemed impossible to pick it
and time was running out. Finally I cut around the back of an extra large hump
and then on a tight rope from Tensing I climbed up a gentle snow ridge to its
top. Immediately it was obvious that we had reached our objective. It was
11.30a.m. and we were on top of Everest!", he writes in his diary Nothing Venture,
Nothing Win. He describes the landscape below them and continues:
"Tensing and I shook hands and then Tensing threw his arms around my
shoulders. It was a great moment! I took off my oxygen and for ten minutes I
photographed Tensing holding flags, the various ridges of Everest and the
general view. I left a crucifix on top for John Hunt and Tensing made a little
hole in the snow and put in it some food offerings - lollies, biscuits and
chocolate. We ate Mint Cake and then put our oxygen back on. I was a little
worried by the time factor so after 15 minutes on top we turned back at
11.45."
Many in the Sherpa community consider Sir Edmund Hillary a
second father. "His work changed the life of the whole Sherpa community.
Without his work, especially the schools, the Sherpas would be nowhere,"
the vice president of the Nepal Mountaineering Association told AFP. Today,
many Nepali friends are lighting butter lamps and offer special Buddhist
prayers for his reincarnation as a human being.
I offer this Bahá'í prayer:
O my God! O my God! Verily, thy
servant, humble before the majesty of Thy divine supremacy, lowly at the door
of Thy oneness, hath believed in Thee and in Thy verses, hath testified to Thy
word, hath been enkindled with the fire of Thy love, hath been immersed in the
depths of the ocean of Thy knowledge, hath been attracted by Thy breezes, hath
relied upon his supplications to Thee, and hath been assured of Thy pardon and
forgiveness. He hath abandoned this mortal life and hath flown to the kingdom
of immortality, yearning for the favor of meeting Thee.
O Lord,
glorify his station, shelter him under the pavilion of Thy supreme mercy, cause
him to enter Thy glorious paradise, and perpetuate his existence in Thine
exalted rose garden, that he may plunge into the sea of light in the world of
mysteries.
Verily,
Thou art the Generous, the Powerful, the Forgiver and the Bestower.
There are days when you think all is lost - on top of people's daily misery and sheer insurmountable challenges everywhere, the American leadership adds insult to injury by its callous selfishness and continued behavior of a big bad bully.
Where is the warm-heartedness I so strongly experience among everyday people? Is anyone speaking out against the corrosive corruption and the uber-self-interest practiced by so many?
Ahh. Just found some ;-)
I have cherished Randy Newman for some time. Besides his musical talents, he has the uncanny ability to capture the essence of particular situations. So here's a recent song of his (thanks youtube!) about the current political climate, and America's need for some friendship. Or, how a song speak can speak more clearly-quickly than any written report.
Randall Stuart "Randy" Newman (born November 28, 1943) is an Academy Award- winning American songwriter, arranger, composer, singer and pianist who is notable for his mordant (and often satirical) pop songs and for his many film scores.
I just came across Simon Singh and John Lynch's documentary film which tells the enthralling and emotional story of Andrew Wiles. As mathematics aficionado, this movie brought tears to my eyes. It is a beautiful portrait of both Andrew Wiles and the challenging and wondrous world that is mathematics. Incidentally, I started my own Masters Program in Mathematics in Amsterdam, however briefly in the late 80s, so I'm quite familiar with this rarefied world of brilliant minds and alternative realities.
Summary of the Film
A quiet English mathematician, Andrew Wiles was drawn into maths by Fermat's puzzle, but at Cambridge in the '70s, FLT was considered a joke, so he set it aside. Then, in 1986, an extraordinary idea linked this irritating problem with one of the most profound ideas of modern mathematics: the Taniyama-Shimura Conjecture, named after a young Japanese mathematician who tragically committed suicide. The link meant that if Taniyama was true then so must be FLT. When he heard, Wiles went after his childhood dream again. "I knew that the course of my life was changing."
For seven years, he worked in his attic study at Princeton, telling no one but his family. "My wife has only known me while I was working on Fermat", says Andrew. In June 1993 he reached his goal. At a three-day lecture at Cambridge, he outlined a proof of Taniyama - and with it Fermat's Last Theorem. Wiles' retiring life-style was shattered.
Mathematics hit the front pages of the world's press. Then disaster struck. His colleague, Dr Nick Katz, made a tiny request for clarification. It turned into a gaping hole in the proof. As Andrew struggled to repair the damage, pressure mounted for him to release the manuscript - to give up his dream. So Andrew Wiles retired back to his attic. He shut out everything, but Fermat. A year later, at the point of defeat, he had a revelation. "It was the most important moment in my working life. Nothing I ever do again will be the same." The very flaw was the key to a strategy he had abandoned years before. In an instant Fermat was proved; a life's ambition achieved; the greatest puzzle of maths was no more.
In addressing the world's challenges, I do get inspired by more and more initiatives and people who seem to understand that there is only one world, one religion and one humanity. Here's one such organization I keep my eye on: the Clinton Global Initiative:
The Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), a non-partisan
undertaking that is part of the William J. Clinton Foundation, is a
catalyst for action.
CGI brings together a community of global leaders (CGI “members”) to devise
and implement innovative solutions to some of the world’s most pressing
challenges. Ongoing working groups focus on issues that include
poverty, climate change, global health, and religious and ethnic
conflicts. All CGI members—who come from diverse entities including
business, non-governmental organizations, foundations, philanthropy,
and government—are required to make a specific action commitment each
year to help address one or more of these problems. Commitments can be
made to any cause or organization of the member’s choosing, and can any
number of forms including financial contributions, an investment of
time, or the application of special expertise. Over the past two years
more than 500 commitments have been made by CGI members, totaling
nearly $10 billion and benefiting the work of more than 1,000
organizations.
For three days each
September, our members participate in the CGI annual meeting, a working
session designed to provide insights into global problems and possible
solutions. The annual meeting creates an ideal setting for
collaboration, recognition of notable commitments, and the formation of
proactive partnerships.
An introductory video describes CGI's current focus:
Just found this interesting video from the IdeaCity'05 conference. It's not something I agree with at all, but I found elements of his presentation so well put, that it stimulates the mind, if only to sharpen a rebuttal or other oblique strategy... With compliments of Google video:
Critical philosopher Sam Harris, author of The End of Faith: Religion, Terror and the Future of Reason, offers a cogent outline of the dangers inherent within the Intelligent Design movement. While the portion of the presentation that he actually discusses the ID movement is brief, maybe 4 minutes or so, he is frighteningly concise and articulate in pointing out the dire ramifications that that this movement has had on both the classroom environment and across the gross politcal spectrum.
Isn't it funny how the mind works? Recently, I bought Dreamfall, a wonderful computer game set
in Casablanca. As I was exploring this oriental city through the main character of the game, I
was somehow reminded of Paul Bowles' love for the country of Morocco. His book The Sheltering Sky is among the most well-known books of the mid-20th
century, and he spent most of his life in Tangiers.
I had bought The
Sheltering Sky a few years ago - and it took until now to be mentally ready
to completely read this sad story, of which his American publisher at the time
(1949) said that it "was not a novel" and in fact rejected its publication. His
British publisher had no such qualms, and published it with relish. A few
months later, another American publisher jumped at the chance, and the rest is
history.
Paul Bowles had caught my attention in the early nineties.
He was a multi-talented (composer and
writer) American of the Beat
Generation of the fifties and sixties that also included Jack Kerouac,
Allan Ginsberg and William S. Burroughs. They were "a whole bunch of people, of
all different nationalities, who came to the conclusion that society sucked."
(Amiri Baraka) "...Our goal was to save the planet and alter human consciousness.
That will take a long time, if it happens at all." (Allen
Ginsberg) I must assume Paul Bowles is mentioned as part of this troupe,
through the friendships he developed with the various artists over the years. His
life's choice to leave the United States
and spend most of his life in Morocco
made him an expat member, providing a refuge in a mysterious land for many of
his friends who ended up visiting him in Tangiers.
As I did not particularly like The Sheltering Sky, it's intriguing that the book still sticks
to my bones, like a vivid dream. Through a story of isolation, alienation and
incessant search, he strips the human condition to its bare bones, which is
clearly unsettling to some people, judging by their opinions of this book. To
find life's emptiness and unbearable lightness so starkly in your face is not for the faint of heart. Curiously, his interest
in, respect for and susceptibility to Islam - he quotes from Muhammad's work
with obvious understanding - read like a balm to his life and work.
Which is why I now understand his appeal to me - we have a
common beginning, a like attraction to see things "for what they really are",
and a sense of the deeper mystery, accessible to both of us through an Eastern
culture and another religion - Islam for him; the Bahá'í Faith, which embraces
and fulfills all religions including Islam, for me.
Ultimately, it is the journey, more than the arrival, that
is most rewarding...
Pieter's Blog 
I just came across Simon Singh and John Lynch's documentary film which tells the enthralling and emotional story of Andrew Wiles. As mathematics aficionado, this movie brought tears to my eyes. It is a beautiful portrait of both Andrew Wiles and the challenging and wondrous world that is mathematics. Incidentally, I started my own Masters Program in Mathematics in Amsterdam, however briefly in the late 80s, so I'm quite familiar with this rarefied world of brilliant minds and alternative realities.
is among the most well-known books of the mid-20th
century, and he spent most of his life in Tangiers.
