Valentine Tribute Technology

        I watched the latest episode of This Is Us aired on NBC.  This year the creators have included today’s invents – meaning the pandemic and restrictions thus the story lines include the mask and real life circumstances at the hospital.

https://www.nbc.com/this-is-us/episodes

The show starts out with the introduction of two new characters – Nasir and Ester – both immigrants to a new country in 1963. Who could this couple possibly be?  What in the world did it have to do with the Pearsons (the family members that are the main subjects of the show)?  Meanwhile the present focuses on family members who are either in the hospital or on the phone via video chat with those in the hospital.  

The next time we see Ester and Nasir they are married.  We don’t know how long they courted or were married or how many children they will have.  We know there is at least one toward the end of the show when Nasir is late coming home and Ester seems upset with him as he promised that he would be home at a certain time.  She asks him to talk to her as if she were their four-year-old son. 

There is a scene where the camera is taken off Ester and Nasir and Manual and Rebecca are the subject. I suddenly decided that Ester and Nasir must be his parents and perhaps they will bringing them more into focus.  But I was wrong.  Ester and Nasir Ahmed are real live people and not just a story line.  Nasir Ahmed’s vision is what connected the story into modern day.  He was interested in technology and creating a device with pictures so that in the future we would not only be able to make phone calls and hear the other person, but we would be able to see the other person.

It was a “wow” moment.  It was such a lovely tribute and I am so impressed that this moment of inspiration has been weaved into the story line as the cast members (as well as ourselves) are able to visit with one another through this great device that was thought up many years before. It has made a great impression not only for what Nasir Ahmed did for all of us but that it was captured in this television show and provides a sense of light in a time that has been too dark for so many.  Thank you Ahmed and thank you to those involved with This Is Us for presenting this experience to us in such a creative way. 

https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/entertainment/a35539211/who-is-nasir-ahmed-esther-true-story/

For more information see here and here e.g.

I don't know if the story was meant as a Valentine's gift for Ester and Nasir - what a cool tribute.