Harry Beck

Have you ever heard of Harry Beck? Nope, neither had I!!! But thanks to Harry, commuters around the world have an easier time navigating transit maps! And when you are in a foreign country and trying to figure out the Tube or the Metro or the U-Bahn or the S-Bahn... Harry's invention comes in handier than you can imagine... And it's cute and colourful to boot!
Before Harry came along, cities had street maps... and on these street maps, they would show the lines and stations of their version of underground or overground mass transit... Which was a little tricky because in the downtown, stations were a lot closer together than on the outskirts... And it meant that if you wanted to figure out how to get from A to B on the transit system, you really had your work cut our for you... Just try openning up a full scale map of London or Berlin and charting a course that way!

Harry figured there must be a better way... Harry was an unemployed electrical draughtsman by trade. He had been working for the London Underground, but then laid off as redundant. In his free time, he worked at figuring out a better Tube map. His bright idea was to make the map schematic rather than geographical. His first presentation to the London Underground was rejected as too revolutionary... Later, when he was once again working for them, he made a second presentation, and this time they agreed to print a trial run. The first 750,000 copies of Harry's map were a huge hit with commuters! As Harry figured, they just wanted to know how to get from one station to another... and Harry's map provided them with that information in a simple, compact, and colourful format.

For his brilliance, Harry was paid a grand total of 15 English pounds... As with many great inventors, he wasn't recognized during his time, and the London Underground often made ill-advised "improvements" to Harry's map. Today though, he is recognized as a graphic genius... and his style of map is used the world over... in Berlin, Paris, Mexico City, Tokyo, Zurich, Rome, Moscow... wherever there is a complex Underground/Tube/Metro... Harry's schematic map style is used, making the lives of traveller's the world over easier!

Back in the Saddle

My poor little Musings Blog! It has been languishing here for the last couple of months while I've been traipsing around on a holiday! I was able to get the Bible Blog pre-posted for 2 months... but not this one! Ah well... It feels weird to be back in Canada after so long, and a bit of an adjustment after being on the go for so long. I have a greater appreciation for many things though... civilized traffic! Free toilets! Real grocery stores! Sunny weather! English!! Recycling... Yeah... that's a big one! We really have no idea how blessed we are to have a universal recycling system here in Alberta (& BC). And the deposit system on bottles and cans... Over in Europe... if you buy a bottle of pop at a corner store, there's no guarantee that you can return it at another store for the deposit (which is 25 cents usually!)... And once you cross a country border, forget it! But, even trying to find a plastic recycling bin was trouble... paper yes... tin cans and aluminum cans yes... plastic, not so easy!

We sometimes think that Europe is more advanced than we are... and in some things they are but... when it comes to other things, they are a bit behind the times... Thank God for our electric dryers!! Not so easy to come by in Europe! Oh... and let's not even mention the price of gas... we paid anywhere from 1.17 Euros/litre to 1.55 Euros/litre... and the converstion rate is 1.3 so... be thankful for cheap gas over here in Canada!

Although it was good to be away... after a while, you just know it's time to come home... you start longing for some good old Canadian English... and a loonie and a toonie... You long for the familiar... Having traipsed through 10 countries on this trip, I can say that... Canada is still the best!

"Who do you say I am..."

Have you ever asked a simple question and gotten a different answer than you were expecting? And, when you really think about it, it’s not even a real answer! It’s an answer that wakes you up, that jolts you, that rocks your world, that turns all your preconceived notions upside down. It’s like the blinkers got removed, the sunglasses got taken off and you could see something clearly for the first time.


Jesus is great at that! Watch him in his interactions with the Pharisees and the Scribes. He’s forever setting them on their ear and not answering their questions the way they expect. He’s opening up their eyes to a different possibility. It’s sort of his trademark interaction.

Here, he asks the disciples who people say that he is. They give him the standard answers and then Peter pipes up with a wild and crazy answer… Jesus is the Christ of God (anointed of God). Wow!! That’s pretty out there!! Maybe Peter was expecting a pat on the back or something. What he gets is something else. The disciples learn that the Christ of God is not what they expected… that the Christ will die… Whoa!!! Hey, no, that’s not what’s supposed to happen to the anointed of God!! Yup, that’s exactly what’s supposed to happen… And more than that, the disciples are told that if they want to follow, then they need to give up their lives rather than trying to save them… Talk about turning their ideas upside down! Interesting too that in Matthew and Mark, this story has the added touch of Peter pulling Jesus aside and going “No!! You can’t”… and Jesus telling Peter to “get behind me, Satan”.

And it begs the question from us too… Who do we think Jesus is?? We have all sorts of images… There are books written about the changing faces of Jesus throughout our cultural history. But really, who is Jesus for you? If Jesus were to stand in front of you right now and ask you that question… what would you say? Odds are, whatever you said, he’d shake up your world. He shook up Peter’s world…

And it continues in the Second Reading… In Christ there is no Jew or Greek, no slave or free, no woman or man. Wow… talk about rocking the cultural world of the 1st century AD! A world that was severely segregated… But in Christ there are no divisions… So, that was then… what about now?? What are the divisions that we have set up that Paul would say have been abolished in Christ? In Christ there is no Baptist or Catholic, no divorced or married, no Clergy or Lay, no gay or straight, no black or white, no Aboriginal or non-Aboriginal, no rich or poor.

Does it shake your world? Oh sure, maybe not all of them… you’re OK with most of them… but there’s one that’s not sitting quite right. Take a look though and see what it is… Because in Christ there are no divisions, all are One… Who will you be sitting down next to at the Eternal Banquet Table… odds are it’ll be the one that makes you squirm right now… But imagine a time when it won’t make you squirm! Imagine a feast in which all are welcome at the table… welcome by the host and welcome by the others around the table… Sounds like paradise to me!