Page 63 - A Life - my Live - my path

Higher education – emotional moment !

This brought tears to my eyes and I replied, "If I could yes,
I'd really like that."
He simply said to me: "OK, but just remember, I went to
work in the mines so that you could become an engineer.
To live is to feel!

Anecdote: existential awareness
Up until the age of 20, I had a fairly average education. My
sister was a good student. She was a girl, I was a boy. That
changed everything!
A legacy from ancient times, a girl had to find a good
husband who can take care of his family. A boy will be
responsible for the well-being of his family.

The boy has to be privileged.
I don't think my parents ever imagined that my sister could
have gone on to higher education, which was an injustice
given her academic record.
The only doubt was that my sister, 2 years older than me,
finished her upper secondary education in June 1969, the
year my father fell ill. My parents took over the “Café de la
Gare” in 1970. So perhaps the context and the financial
situation didn't allow it.
What reassured me, on the other hand, was the very
successful career she had had both in private companies
and at the European Commission.

I had heard about a university in Brussels that trained
technical engineers in electronics with a specialisation in
nuclear science. My choice was made. I liked electronics, but

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