The website is finally live. Years of work and anticipation are a thing of the past. Yesterday http://researchandhope.com was born and today I am preparing for a TV interview.

For some reason, an image keeps popping into my mind of teaching classes in metaphysics. “What time is it?” I would ask the class. This was followed by many surprised and confident answers. Then I would follow with, “What is time?” I would get just as much surprise but very few confident answers. As I thought about why this scene was playing over in my mind, I remembered that among the complicated and intricate answers to the question “what is time” my favourite was always this: “Time is the permanent possibility of change.”

In a way that thought has driven me from the time Steve had his stroke to the launch of this website. Every second that passes represents an opportunity to make a change. No matter what the prognosis, as long as time is passing there is a chance to change the outcome.

Despite missing the opportunity to attend school for most of his childhood, Steve had educated himself. He was one of the wisest and most intelligent people I have ever known. As his karate students struggled to inhale during another gruelling session, Steve would bellow, “This time will never come again! You are only cheating yourselves if you don’t make the most of it.”

I have always hidden from cameras. As a consequence, there are very few family photos that include me. Now I find myself posing for the press and sitting in front of TV cameras. No matter how I feel, I believe in Steve’s words “this time will never come again” and I have to make each moment count so that in my future, I can look back and know that I didn’t waste any opportunity.