... being an undergraduate at the Univeristy of the Witwatersrand in the 1960s. I was learning to play Bridge - the game of intellectuals, and I had to learn it because after all I was a Math and Mathematical Statistics major who was also studying Economics and Philosophy, thus I must be an intellectual, right?
Wrong. I hated it. I was petrified by the need to remember who bid what, and what cards had been played. My hands shook under the pressure of the need to remember trivia of events of the last few minutes.
Math was easy - I could deduce it from first principles. Philosophy was easy, I could deduce what Russel or Plato would say about anything (at least close enough to fake it through a test) because I grokked their view on the world.
Why does this memory of trembling hands holding a bunch of cards surface now?
The South African social situation was a disaster. Police were shooting at protesters in the streets. I was joining with other students in marches. The political situation today in the USA is much milder, but McCain/Palin campaign reminds me of the politics of hate that prevailed in South Africa in the 60s.
My bridge teacher asked - why are we playing Bridge now? Good question, I thought, and stopped learning the game, which seemed totally irrelevant at the time, and continues to appear so to me.
Wrong. I hated it. I was petrified by the need to remember who bid what, and what cards had been played. My hands shook under the pressure of the need to remember trivia of events of the last few minutes.
Math was easy - I could deduce it from first principles. Philosophy was easy, I could deduce what Russel or Plato would say about anything (at least close enough to fake it through a test) because I grokked their view on the world.
Why does this memory of trembling hands holding a bunch of cards surface now?
The South African social situation was a disaster. Police were shooting at protesters in the streets. I was joining with other students in marches. The political situation today in the USA is much milder, but McCain/Palin campaign reminds me of the politics of hate that prevailed in South Africa in the 60s.
My bridge teacher asked - why are we playing Bridge now? Good question, I thought, and stopped learning the game, which seemed totally irrelevant at the time, and continues to appear so to me.
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