H.K. Kesavan : Lives Lived (Globe and Mail)

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/facts-and-arguments/lives-lived-hiremagalur-k-kesavan-88/article24486824/

This Week

This Week by Anita Kesavan Srinivasan

This past week that included a) Nov 9: the 25th anniversary of the Berlin Wall coming down - an end to the Cold War b) Nov 11: Remembrance Day ceremonies and c) a major conference at our School themed: 21CQ: Navigating the Strategic Dark, exploring foreign policy narratives in the 21st century, all made for a profound seven days. This past weekend we saw more gruesome images of ISIS and more beheadings of Americans and Syrians. All of these events happened in the backdrop of my father, born in 1926 and now age 88, entering an advanced stage of cancer, as he was admitted to a medical institution for monitoring. 

How are these series of events connected in terms of this week's blog you might ask. Well, I was brought up by a father who was defined by the grand global narratives of the World Wars, Cold War, end of Cold War, and Unipolar America. All of these narratives being superseded by the greatest political struggle of his generation of Indian origin: Indian independence from colonial power. These were the founding milestones of someone born in the late 1920s. For this generation, sacrifice in the pursuit of establishing the conditions for civil society and democracy, was of fundamental importance and defined their identity. So many immigrant Canadian families - whether it's the politics of South America, former Yugoslavia, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, or name at least 80+ other regions of the world, all would share this pervasive theme in how their children are narrated stories of emerging from conflict and settling in the western world. These moments of  pivotal history innately form a core part of the conversation heard over and over and over again - through mealtimes, watching the news, community events, etc, etc. 

As I sat through the week during a time when my father had lost some control of his speech and fighting tremendous weakness, we had an interesting moment. I had gone to his room at the Kitchener- Waterloo hospital direct from work, wearing my conference badge. I found him staring at the hanging conference Id. He asked me what it was. I told him that I had come from listening to a panel of experts.  They had concluded that even superpowers today are making foreign policy based decisions based on their own narrow lens of geopolitical interests - no grand unifying and collaborative global narratives based on multilateral decisions and collaborative leadership. And that we are in a bipolar power structure of foreign relations all overwhelmed by the threats of terrorism and violence. He closed his eyes for a moment, and, then opened them, gazed at me directly and perfectly said: "because of global ignorance." And that was that.  The most clarity from him all week. Wow.