Who got me started?

Today is a red letter day. My best friend, whom I haven’t seen in something like five years is coming to see me.

In many ways it is thanks to him that I am the person I am. We met when, at age eleven and in a new school and a new country, I was seated by my new teacher in an empty seat next to a scrawny little kid who was then told by the teacher to look after me. Now, my friend might not seem like the nurturing type but in our ways we have both been taking care of each other since then. Mostly, it has meant a lot of talking. Talking about stuff that interested us and, it seemed, pretty much no-one else. Twenty-something years later and, thanks to the magic of the internet, we are still talking even though we have spent most of those years living hundreds if not thousands of kilometres apart.

In fact, my meeting him in that class-room many years ago is closely linked to my sitting here and writing this blog. It was during our talks that I started to think more deeply about, among other things, religion and it was those conversations that I am sure have shaped my intellectual habits. Maybe there is some deep point in that. You’re welcome to look for one.