If you’ve visited this site before you’ll see that I’ve switched the entry page to the latest posting rather than a static homepage. I’ve done this to please one of my main readers. No matter how much I try, my readership will likely remain very very small because, at my age most of my friends, besides being busy with other pursuits, are somewhat computer-phobic, afraid to have much to do with the internet, so I’m afraid I’ll have to settle for the 3 or 4 loyal readers I have. (Thanks Guys!) I’ve had this tune from the 1960s swimming around in my head for the past few days “I was born… too late… for you to notice me.” Do you remember it? Maybe realizing these things about my computer-phobic peers, and a recent campus tour has made me wonder, if maybe I was born, not too late, but… too soon?

Friday morning, Hubby and I got up very early and forced ourselves to leave the house by 7:30 (!)  in order to reach the departure point for a morning “behind the scenes” campus tour beginning at 8 with a continental breakfast provided by INSIDER TOURS. We began in the Cell Therapy Lab with the Director, Dr. Linda Kelley, with a discussion of umbilical cord blood banking and novel stem cell therapies now going on at the U. Afterwards we all donned white lab coats for a tour of the lab. Asked about the kind of degrees you’d have to earn in order to work in a laboratory like Cell Therapy Labs, Dr. Kelley answered that there’s nothing she could specify at this point–because the field is too new to have a curriculum guideline. Watching two completely head-to-toe-covered technicians behind a glass wall insert specimens into the centrifuge, I thought how great it would be to be involved in such a ground-breaking new technology with potential answers to diseases such as muscular dystrophy and diabetes.

Site #2 of our tour was the Moran Eye Center with the Executive Director of Research, Dr. Robert E. Marc, who spoke about new technologies and advancements in eye research, specifically in retinal neurotransmission and the detection of restinal diseases. My latest driver’s license has a Y(es) beside the donor entry, but I never felt sure that, at my age, I would be a viable donor. Yes, I learned, in spite of my age, my corneas would be useful; made me feel good. Afterwards we toured the new facility. If there should ever be an earthquake in SLC, I hope I happen to be there because it’s designed to hold up through such a disaster.

Dr. Duncan Metcalf, Archaeologist and Curator for the Utah Natural History Museum took us on a slide show tour of the Range Creek Canyon and a “treasure trove” of Fremont Culture. There’s a lot of interesting speculation about the place and the people who inhabited it–like how could they possibly have gotten to the sites where they presumably stored grain and scratched out their petroglyph art. (Velcro on the bottom of their feet?)

The last site we visited was the C. Rowland Christensen Center, where Professor of Finance Calvin Boardman, from the David Eccles School of Business, presented a lecture on “Ethics that Stand the Test of Time.” In his inimitable lecture style, he gave us a new way to think about business ethics with a tale of Cicero’s Merchant, originally written of course by the philosopher Cicero:

“Suppose that there is a food-shortage and famine at Rhodes, and the price of corn is extremely high. An honest man has brought the Rhodians a large stock of corn from Alexandria. He is aware that a number of other traders are on their way from Alexandria–he has seen their ships on their way to Rhode–with substantial cargoes of grain. Ought he to tell the Rhodians this? Or is he to say nothing and sell his stock at the best price he can get?” (University of St. Thomas Center for Business Ethics Website)

From the group assembled, Dr. Boardman received a broad spectrum of answers from “get all you can fast and get out” to “give the Rhodians the grain” with a variety of possibilities in between, like make a little profit but don’t be greedy. The answer you  may come up with depends on a lot of individual factors such as your gender, your generation, where you were born and grew up, your personal experiences, etc.

Back to the original question, was I born too soon? The question is moot because there’s nothing I can do about it now anyway, but I keep remembering a friend from a very long time ago and very far away who said If I had as much foresight as I have hindsight, I’d be a darnsight better off! On the other hand, I can always hope that the Hindus are right in their belief in reincarnation and I’ll get another go-around in the sweet by and by.