Little House is a recreation center for ‘Independent Seniors’ in Menlo Park, Ca. My wife and I visit there every Thursday – first for Lucille’s Qigong Exercise in the morning – then we stay for lunch to meet new friends. How lucky we are to have met two scholarly seniors recently. Joel Roberts, in his early 80s, was a professor in American History. Sterling Harwood, in his mid 60s, is a scholar author on Philosophy and Law. In our early 90s, Lucille and I would not consider ourselves scholars, but we have good stories to share – many about our Chinese Heritage and about our relatives who have contributed towards recent Chinese History. We discovered instant rapport. Hard to explain; we now anxiously look forward to Thursdays at Little House where we can continue our pleasing and mutually encouraging conversations.
From Left to Right : Joel, Billy, and Sterling April. 2024
Joel is more outgoing than Sterling. He seems to know everyone who walks by us. The passerby greets him with respect but more significantly with uplifting joy. Quickly I learned that Joel is a Christian, but he has deep respect for many Buddhist Principles as well. He apparently involves himself in Peace Promoting activities which I need to learn much more about from him. Joel is an ‘Inspirational’ character with profound wisdom, a Beatle Haircut and a Wide Smile. An easily Lovable Character indeed !
Sterling and I both went to Ivy League schools on the East Coast. He to Cornell and I to Yale. We both played soccer on the varsity teams – he was a defensive full back and I a center forward . I cannot forget that it was in a Yale vs Cornell game where I was permanently injured as the Cornell Fullback and I both jumped to head a high-flying ball in front of the Cornell goal post. I landed awkwardly and twisted my left knee. It was no one’s fault, and we are all so proud of the fact that we soccer players are the only people in all sports who actually use their heads.
Sterling apparently uses his Brain as well as his head . He has authored several books and taught causes on professional & Business Ethics, Introduction to Philosophy, Critical Thinking, Moral Issues, Philosophy of the Person (philosophy of mind), Science, Technology & Human Values. His knowledge about Philosophy and Law caused me to ask him to write something on Friendship & Justice for my https://friendshipology.net. He agreed, but before that he made me read Cicero’s De Senectute, De Amicita, and De Divinatione – an English translation by William Armistead Falconer. I wondered why. We are going to explore that this coming Thursday.
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