A Year's End Remembrance

[svensson]

As I sit in the last era of my life [I'm in my late 50's], I think about dying and legacy and memory and so on.

Not in a maudlin or macabre way, but taking what I honestly feel is a reasonable and even-handed approach to dealing with what faces everyone. I'm neither fascinated nor despondent about the approach of death, but I have been trying to become less selfish of my time, become more patient with other people, and being a better man, relative, person, what have you.

And today I learned of the loss of Arch. Desmond Tutu.

I think most of us want to be remembered as 'good people', being male I think of it in terms of 'A Good Man'. By that I mean that I was moral and ethical most of the time, and took responsibility on those times I wasn't; that I loved as best as I knew how and tried to learn to love better; that I learned and taught well, these kinds of things.

And we, all of us, have lost a lot of Good People this, the second Winter Anno COVID.

In the US we lost Cicely Tyson, Colin Powell and Bob Dole. And today I learned that Susan Weddington, the lawyer that argued 'Roe v. Wade' before the SCOTUS, passed away.

Internationally, we lost Capt. [Hon. Col.] Sir Tom Moore, Prince Phillip of Edinburgh, Charlie Watts, and Christopher Plummer.

As you can see, this list is nowhere near conclusive.

I lost my father to COVID. A piece of advice from a new orphan... If there is a way to enhance your relationship with your family, do so. If there is a way to repair or make peace with your family, try. You will not always succeed. None of us do. But there is growth and betterment for you in the effort itself. We are rarely if ever ready to lose the ones we love, even if we are angry with them. And leaving things unsaid or un-dealt-with is hard.

For all these thoughts about dying, the sun will still rise tomorrow. We will find something to laugh about, something to be happy about or for. We live and living is always a chance to live better than we have previously.

I hope your Christmas /Channukah /Yule /Festivus /Whatever went well for you all. Thanks for your comradeship and arguments this year. Yes, even those of you who called me names. 😉 Stay safe over New Year's.

Edited December 27, 2021 by svensson

[Lloyd Dupont]

This post feels me with melancholy....

[svensson]

Me too, but melancholy isn't altogether inappropriate for the closing of a year as hard as this one.

Watch some Witcher. You'll feel better 😆

[Lloyd Dupont]

15 minutes ago, svensson said:

Watch some Witcher. You'll feel better 😆

I feel even more melancholy now. I already watched all there is, and there is more to have. For now. 🤔

On the plus side, some mystery from the video games are becomes more clear now! 🙂

[svensson]

And then Betty White passes away.

THANKS LLOYD! 😆

A stand up noted that it was a pretty funny bit for Betty and a publishing company to work all year on a 'Betty White at 100' magazine only for her to die two weeks before it hits the newsstands.... And speaking as a guy who did stand-up for a living for three years, the dude's right. That is magnificent timing.

[g33k]

... and Sidney Poitier.

2022 already has a  LOT  to answer for !