Caring for a Future

This is part of a series on my Santa Perpetua tattoos. You can read the rest in the tattoo category on this blog.

I think the angst for this one boils down to how to let people take the risks they can afford to take, with as much information as possible. 

For instance, in child rearing, I want my kid to be comfortable in his body and feel confident and have fun. That might mean climbing up on something that’s high and that he might fall off of! And so I have to do calculations while he’s climbing – is this a height he would break an arm at, or would he break his neck? Does he already have a good sense of his own abilities? What about when he goes online in a few years — is it to a space where he can learn to interact with others, including some difficult conversations? Will he be able to express himself creatively? Explore different aspects of himself? Or is it a place where he might be bullied and/or sexually harassed? Or is it all these things? What about his experience would be different a few years later?

Elsewhere: I work in security for computers. The reason our devices can be so powerful is that the different parts of the computer can talk to the other parts. It’s called general computation, and it’s what got us away from computers that were simply calculators or other single-purpose things. Now your phone or computer can do phone calls; take pictures, store those pictures, and send them to other people; it can play music; and it can show you where on a map you are. That means that a bunch of different processes are all talking to each other. Which means if a baddie gets access to one part of the device, they can get access to the other parts. So in security, we limit what can talk to what, and how it’s talking. That also limits what the device can DO, which tamps down on innovation. It’s a delicate balance. Preventing a crazy ex (or a dictator) from accessing your photos might also mean the most advanced mental health care app might not work on the phone. 

I’m also inspired by this quote – “Westerners are fond of the saying ‘Life isn’t fair.’ Then, they end in snide triumph: ‘So get used to it!’ What a cruel, sadistic notion to revel in! What a terrible, patriarchal response to a child’s budding sense of ethics. Announce to an Iroquois, ‘Life isn’t fair,’ and her response will be: ‘Then make it fair!'” (credited to Barbara Alice Mann)

I love how the leaves overlap on this one, and how the paint spatter of it connects to the piece we’re working on for my chest. But that one has another three-ish sessions left, so the next post in this series will be a long time coming. Thanks for reading along!