Random ness in Thought

Chris Rock says comically, but with great insight, "being able to speak to 500 or 1000 people  from a stage is freakish. It's more freakish than being able to dunk a basketball or a bend a steel bar with your bare hands." That's how I have always thought about public speaking. I struggled with it through my life and improved but was never great or at ease or even  able to act like it I was at ease.

I can say without reservation that watching my son Jon give his Ted talk at the Sony Center in Toronto to a few thousand people a few years ago was a high point of my life. His ease, delivery and content were the icing.

He started by talking about how our family came from Ireland in 1750's to Newfoundland and how his grandfather, Frank Dwyer moved from there to Central Canada in 1949 with his young family and gave us this shot at pretty great life.

I had offered a few ideas but had no idea what he would say. He was funny and smart and insightful, and I think he established himself as his own man and an intellectual.

Last year he was invited to be a guest speaker at the Brick works in Toronto, where he joined Robert Kennedy Jr. talking about the environment and recycling. I got to attend and chatted with Mr. Kennedy. He was great and was impressed with Jon's talk. If you have not seen them yet, you can, you tube: Jon Dwyer Toronto.

I had some thought this week,  watching the debate on whether to call an inquiry, on the proliferation of deaths of Native women in Canada and kind of wanted to write about it. In the end I decided I had no business stirring that pot. I will say it is disappointing how poorly our Leaders,  Native and Government have handled this massive issue. Somebody make a decision and let's get on making this country greater than it is, and fairer. This is the issue we are going to get burned for and not because we didn't try to fix it but our efforts were so lame and cowardly. They, the Natives, are not on solid ground in their argument and asks and neither are we.

President Obama is now taking a beating from the likes of Maureen Dowd, the New York Times columnist. She always defended him morally and intellectually. Now, not so much. I think he will be viewed as good President. Like the lead Senator from New York said,'unless you are willing to send your son or grandson to Syria or back to Iraq,I don't want to hear from you. Obama gets that. He has to answer for them and sign death notices.