A Pair of Old Debts

I've lectured in every state of the union except Alaska, and many times in several states. Another frequent lecturer is Father Stanley J. Bezuszka, of Boston College. Father Bezuszka is a little human dynamo, and it was natural that we would occasionally appear on the same speaking program. It was in this way that we got to know one another.

Thus, during an intermission of an NCTM meeting held in Corpus Christi some years ago, I found myself at a little table enjoying a Coke with Father Bezuszka. The conversation turned to geometry and the old master, Euclid. I finally said, “I owe an immeasurable debt to Euclid. Reading the first six books of his Elements in school marked an important turning point in my life, for it determined that I would go into mathematics as my life's work.” And I concluded by musing, “Isn't it remarkable that what a man did some 2000 years ago should so affect one's life?” And then I suddenly realized that perhaps there was nothing so remarkable about it after all, for there sitting across the table from me was Father Bezuszka in clerical dress, and he similarly had his life markedly affected by the doings of a man who lived about 2000 years ago.