My friend Peter O’Brien is a ‘day brightener’. He’s one of those people who - if you encounter him during the course of a day - consistently complements the moment with his wit, forthrightness, and good humour. I’ve run into him a few times in the area (otherwise known as his ‘hood), including today, following an early morning stocking up on quarantine essentials at a local shop.

Peter and I met when I was president of the Toronto chapter of the McGill Alumni Association, back in the early 2000s. We spontaneously reconnected when I returned to the city last year and keep running into each other, which always results in a fantastic impromptu chat.

A talented communicator, as well as an adept marketer, fundraiser and author, Peter has published seven books. Based on this, one might infer that he is a highfalutin intellectual, but Peter is, in fact, a very down-to-earth gentleman who also happens to have been a ‘roughneck’ on an oil rig during his career. Deeply engaged with various arts, environmental, and educational institutions, Peter is currently the Director of Communications, Marketing & Development at the Glenn Gould Foundation. (For those who are not familiar with this famous Canadian pianist, read up.)

Quite simply, Peter is a Renaissance man, but just a little shorter in stature than you might expect.

In speaking with Peter today, I was once again reminded of his fantastic enthusiasm and brilliant mind. Working where he does, he pointed out how “we’re in Glenn Gould’s time”. Indeed, Gould was a serious germaphobe and someone who used to hole himself up in his mid-town Toronto apartment for long stretches of time. Basically, he didn’t enjoy people - an interesting perspective to have had as a professional pianist. He is quoted as having said at one point: “I detest audiences - not in their individual components, but en masse I detest audiences.” Gould was, however, fond of animals.

I must say that I am rather tired of the long arching walks that strangers make to avoid me on the sideway. (Is it because I don’t wear a face mask?) Some even wait at the end of the aisles in grocery stores for fear of passing by me with their trolley and penetrating the 6-foot ‘radius of safety’. Which is why it was so wonderful to have a good ‘chin-wag’ with an old(er) friend. It reinforced to me the importance of face-to-face conversation and the nuances of this kind of communication.

Technology is helpful during this time of self isolation and social distancing, but Zoom is merely a conversational abstraction. Personal, one-on-one interaction is unmatched. It’s where one can appreciate another, in person: the whole person, together with laughter and learning. Semantic nuances, an individual’s unique personality and characteristic facial expressions - including a smile - can’t be missed ‘in the flesh’.

I long for this kind of human engagement to return. Thank you, Peter.