Blog Guelph: And Who Are You Really?

Walking away. , a photo by SierraRosePhotography on Flickr.

Often, we really don't know the people that we think we know.  Then sometimes we see them for what they are, who they are - and we then realize that they are in fact someone else. Some other character. Some person you don't know at all. A stranger in the street of your life.

This is an unsettling experience - to realize you have attached emotions to something that could change, shift, become unstable, turn from you, play strange, change colour, take distance; and that your ideals would be lost to the undercurrent of a reality you did not see when walking in the stunning rays of charisma.


But the water is deep and wide. And so, sometimes people actually surprise you with their capacities. People that did not seem remarkable can suddenly become astonishing human beings, capable of great courage, fearless love, and profound humanity.


There are some terrific lectures occurring up here on the hill at the University of Guelph. Social justice activist Judy Rebick will be speaking on January 19th. Also on the 19th, UG President Alastair Summerlee will be speaking as part of the Better Planet Project on Education in Refugee Camps in Kenya. And on January 20th we will be celebrating the 90th Birthday of Lincoln Alexander, former lieutenant-governor of Ontario.


And although we may not know these people well, getting to know them through their social actions in this community and others, is the measure of their greatness and a marker of their character. 


-Aidan M.D. Ware