Post #77
Well, it’s been a very busy week. Many things have affected me in profound but enlightening ways. One such occasion was dinner at a local restaurant that I was pleased to have been invited to with my wife. I was deeply conversational with an older gentleman who was seated next to me on our table. As the night progressed and the lazy Susan was put through its paces, I was fortunate to have been treated to a fascinating account of an apparently normal man and his life thus far.
At sixty five, he has seen many things in his life, and I was humbled by his willingness to share many of them with me. Through the loss of his son in a tragic car accident more than nineteen years ago, I was drawn into this man's world and his perception of life before and after this: Single most devastating event he had ever endured.
He went on to explain that not a single week had passed since that day nineteen years ago, where the man had not shed a tear in memory of his son's life. I was deeply moved by his admission that he had wept uncontrollably on occasion, since the day that his son had passed in 1988... I began to wonder what I was doing in 1988. I had no clue... 15 years old and bullet-proof (so I thought). -I was too busy trying to find my own identity through a purple haze of smoke and the occasional over indulgence in alcohol. God it could just have easily been me who died in a car accident almost six years ago.
Being this close to the end brought home a few inconvenient facts and truths about my existence so far. I will not lie by telling you that I emerged miraculously unscathed or altogether unchanged by it all. In the very least, it scared the absolute crap out of me. If I intellectualise the experience, I can say that I grew spiritually from these events and remain changed, possibly forever as my friend at the restaurant remains changed by the choices of his son on that evening. I don't understand the circumstances behind the accident, but I know that he was roughly the same age that I was when I had my accident. I can tell you this much... There was only one person to blame for my accident, and it wasn't Henry Ford or (Enzo Ferrari).
The inconvenient truth for me is this. I am responsible for me, for my children and indirectly for every other person who chooses to know me throughout my life. I have influence and sometimes (as in the case of my children) profound and direct effects on those around me. I can't even begin to feel this man's pain when he weeps alone in a moment of grief for the son he should never have had to bury...Nothing in life is as tragic as this.
After a breakup with his wife and custody issues that ensued, he chose to move in with his parents to recoup and sort his life out. In that time (about 6 months) he re-established a close bond with his father, who had also recently broken his first marriage. Tragically, after their relationship had grown closer than ever, his life was taken in a single tragic moment. His car smashing into a tree on a lonely country road: A corner that proved too sharp at such speed.
Wow, I don’t mean to get all philosophical on you guys, but life is trying to tell us things about ourselves. If we listen really hard, we can hear our calling. Like is like this wise old man said; “Life is boring without risks.” “Without risks, you achieve very little, for nothing worthwhile is ever achieved without considerable effort.” But I think that it is all about measured risks, in knowing how far to go... You know, like knowing when to throw your hand in while playing cards, or when to stop doubling your winnings on the pokies.
In closing conversation with him however, he pointed out that there were not enough fingers (or toes) on his body to count the number of failures he had seen in his working life, but the number of successes by way of hard work and dedication far outweighed these failures, leading to a life of overwhelming satisfaction and contentment.
When the soul is free, we are truly human. The ‘Human condition’ begs us to challenge all forms of suppression. Freedom, by its very nature is always succeded by the taking of risk in one form or another. Indeed, the very fact that we fight for freedom, reveals to us that we are not yet free. We are seeking an as yet, unreachable goal that evades us, or is threatened in every waking moment of our existence. These photos may appear to be completely unrelated to the subject matter, but they represent the apparent complexity of life (in the cascading switches) and the resolve of the human spirit in the form of the awsome strength of the draught horse. All things have an element of beauty, just sometimes hard for us to see.
At sixty five, he has seen many things in his life, and I was humbled by his willingness to share many of them with me. Through the loss of his son in a tragic car accident more than nineteen years ago, I was drawn into this man's world and his perception of life before and after this: Single most devastating event he had ever endured.
He went on to explain that not a single week had passed since that day nineteen years ago, where the man had not shed a tear in memory of his son's life. I was deeply moved by his admission that he had wept uncontrollably on occasion, since the day that his son had passed in 1988... I began to wonder what I was doing in 1988. I had no clue... 15 years old and bullet-proof (so I thought). -I was too busy trying to find my own identity through a purple haze of smoke and the occasional over indulgence in alcohol. God it could just have easily been me who died in a car accident almost six years ago.
Being this close to the end brought home a few inconvenient facts and truths about my existence so far. I will not lie by telling you that I emerged miraculously unscathed or altogether unchanged by it all. In the very least, it scared the absolute crap out of me. If I intellectualise the experience, I can say that I grew spiritually from these events and remain changed, possibly forever as my friend at the restaurant remains changed by the choices of his son on that evening. I don't understand the circumstances behind the accident, but I know that he was roughly the same age that I was when I had my accident. I can tell you this much... There was only one person to blame for my accident, and it wasn't Henry Ford or (Enzo Ferrari).
The inconvenient truth for me is this. I am responsible for me, for my children and indirectly for every other person who chooses to know me throughout my life. I have influence and sometimes (as in the case of my children) profound and direct effects on those around me. I can't even begin to feel this man's pain when he weeps alone in a moment of grief for the son he should never have had to bury...Nothing in life is as tragic as this.
After a breakup with his wife and custody issues that ensued, he chose to move in with his parents to recoup and sort his life out. In that time (about 6 months) he re-established a close bond with his father, who had also recently broken his first marriage. Tragically, after their relationship had grown closer than ever, his life was taken in a single tragic moment. His car smashing into a tree on a lonely country road: A corner that proved too sharp at such speed.
Wow, I don’t mean to get all philosophical on you guys, but life is trying to tell us things about ourselves. If we listen really hard, we can hear our calling. Like is like this wise old man said; “Life is boring without risks.” “Without risks, you achieve very little, for nothing worthwhile is ever achieved without considerable effort.” But I think that it is all about measured risks, in knowing how far to go... You know, like knowing when to throw your hand in while playing cards, or when to stop doubling your winnings on the pokies.
In closing conversation with him however, he pointed out that there were not enough fingers (or toes) on his body to count the number of failures he had seen in his working life, but the number of successes by way of hard work and dedication far outweighed these failures, leading to a life of overwhelming satisfaction and contentment.
When the soul is free, we are truly human. The ‘Human condition’ begs us to challenge all forms of suppression. Freedom, by its very nature is always succeded by the taking of risk in one form or another. Indeed, the very fact that we fight for freedom, reveals to us that we are not yet free. We are seeking an as yet, unreachable goal that evades us, or is threatened in every waking moment of our existence. These photos may appear to be completely unrelated to the subject matter, but they represent the apparent complexity of life (in the cascading switches) and the resolve of the human spirit in the form of the awsome strength of the draught horse. All things have an element of beauty, just sometimes hard for us to see.
posted by George @ 9:35 pm
0 comments
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home