Blog: How well can I listen?
in English 19.7. 06:59
I have often thought that speaking is more important than listening. When addressing a young couple during the marriage ceremony, I have often said: ”Speak to each other. Speaking is one of the building blocks of your marriage.” At the same time, however, I have reminded the newlyweds that they should also listen to each other. Otherwise speaking will be meaningless. But I guess I have made the mistake of assuming that listening is something automatic like breathing. Lue lisää
Blog: Words that wound
in English 5.7. 06:54
When I send my children to school in the morning, I wish them a good day. I hope they will not need to worry about being accepted. I hope they will not be bullied. And even more I hope they will not themselves bully other children. I have memories of both being bullied and myself bullying other children. Both are powerful memories. I wish to share some of them here. Lue lisää
Blog: At a lonely guarding post
in English 16.6. 06:49
In September 2016 I put together my bike at Prague Airport in the Czech Republic, fixed the panniers, and hopped on the saddle. I had no idea where that small action would ultimately take me. I am writing this on a bench in a hostel in Almaty, Kazakhstan, wondering how on earth I ended up here. Lue lisää
Blog: I raise my hat and walk along
in English 3.6. 06:20Blog: Six months
in English 23.4. 06:06Blog: So small, yet so great
in English 10.4. 06:03Blog: Best extra chromosome ever
in English 26.3. 06:56
When we speak about a person who somehow deviates from the norm, we tend to underline how that person – despite his or her diagnosis – can read, do math, or sing so extremely well. How a child who has the same diagnosis as our son can speak and write fluently in two languages. How another such child was fully potty-trained by the age of 2, and so on. These things are surely a cause of joy for everybody. We like to share hero stories. We need them. But I am going to share a hero story that is a bit different. Lue lisää
Blog: About reading
in English 16.3. 06:45
When, as a little boy, I learnt to read by studying the texts on milk cartons, I could not have imagined the Pandora’s box opened up by that new skill. I am not sure how well young children understand the content they read – as we reflect all our new experiences on things we have previously learnt or internalized – but I can clearly remember some balloons of Donald Duck paperbacks that I only understood when I was older. I guess we develop a sense of humor at a fairly late age, and little kids probably have no idea of the double meanings of words. Lue lisää
Blog: Farewells
in English 7.3. 06:46
My grandfather died in the autumn just over a year ago. The death of an old person is sad and nostalgic. The inevitability of death is easy to understand rationally, but the finality of separation is heart-rending. I have never personally experienced the death of younger person, whose thread of life is cut at a time when they still hear their fleet-footed children’ steps around them and are surrounded by bustling life. Nor have I had the experience of losing the budding life of a baby that will never reach the full bloom of childhood. Some people have had to give up young lives, too, and those separations are the hardest of all to bear. Lue lisää
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