Editor:
Some 30 years ago, I became a ham radio operator.
Since then, mostly using Morse code, I have had the pleasure of making friends all over the world. One of the wonders of Morse code is that it allows us to sound pretty much the same as each other. Invisible to us, but quite perceivable to the right electronic equipment, electromagnetic/electrostatic lines of force connect us together.
It is a small world.
I can be sitting in front of my radio in Kamloops and share thoughts with another man on the other side of the world. Maybe it has been a cold day in Moscow — it has also been cold here in Kamloops.
A few minutes later, I may have moved off frequency and find myself sharing similar thoughts with a fellow who lives in the Ukraine.
I may find out he is the same age and has built his own gear, too. Sometimes I wish we were only a few miles apart and could meet for coffee.
He could come and sit in front of my radio and send Morse code to someone he has never met.
Ham radio has made some incredible memories for me. It has also bridged the gap separating total strangers. Two people might be friends without ever having seen each other.
By the stroke of a pen and ideals too old to know their roots, my friends in Moscow and Ukraine have suddenly become sworn enemies.
Our politicians in Ottawa decide I am to like my friend in the Ukraine, but I may not be allowed to communicate with my ham friend in Moscow.
Tomorrow, all three of us will awake, talk to our family members, eat and drink, tire and then sleep. The same type of blood cells run through our bodies and supply our cells with oxygen and nutrients.
Some of us are atheist, some are Christians and some are Muslim. Some may be social activists, some may care for the poor, some may be wealthy. We seldom, if ever, speak of those types of things.
What we share in common is what really matters.
John Noakes
Kamloops
