I have lived in the USA twice in my life and, like many Canadians, I have many friends and relatives there. Like many Canadians, I appreciate Americans and, despite obvious setbacks and flaws, I have a great respect for the values of freedom and justice that America and its allies have represented in our world.<\/p>\n
And so I am, along with many American friends and many others in many countries around the world, worried about what the next four years will bring \u2013 specifically for that great country but also for so many of us elsewhere.<\/p>\n
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. (Martin Luther King, Jr.<\/a>)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
As an academic and a scientist I believe that ideas propagated in truth and then spoken with conviction make a difference in the world. It may become tempting to use the strategies of untruth against those who propagate untruth. But that would be extremely unwise because:<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2026science and reason matter\u2026\u201d (Barak Obama<\/a>, presidential farewell address)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
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\u201cThe good thing about science: it\u2019s true whether or not you believe in it.\u201d (Neil deGrasse Tyson<\/a>)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
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\u201cMen argue. Nature acts.\u201d (Voltaire)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
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\u201cI am not presumptuous enough to tell reality what it should be.\u201d (Alexander Vilenkin<\/a>)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
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A great American poet, W.S. Merwin, said<\/a>:<\/p>\n
\u2026one can\u2019t live only in despair and anger without eventually destroying the thing one is angry in defense of. The world is still here, and there are aspects of human life that are not purely destructive, and there is a need to pay attention to the things around us while they are still around us. And you know, in a way, if you don\u2019t pay that attention, the anger is just bitterness.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
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