Dad

M-H pointed out that I haven’t mentioned Dad for a while. His foot is mending slowly, he was able to put some weight on the ankle for the first time last week. The wheelchair goes back to the hire company next week, and he should be dancing by Christmas. Apparently his dancing won’t be any better than it was before the fall.

Right now, he’s at the Mater Hospital, having a nodule cut out of his throat. They’ll send a tissue sample to be tested for cancer, but it’s most likely to be a cyst. This is his third general anaesthetic in about 2 months, which isn’t ideal, but it’s better that we know what it is sooner, rather than later. If it isn’t benign I’ll be devastated, but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. In the meantime he won’t be talking for at least a few days, and it will also be a little while before he can eat. Better make some soup.

Aunty Patsy’s funeral was this morning, one of her grandchildren Sean read a wonderful eulogy about her long and very full life. The ladies of Leichhardt Bowling Club gave her coffin a guard of honour as it was carried from the chapel, and there was much saying of “this is the word of the lord”, “peace be with you”, and “and also with you”. There was saying of Hail Marys, and Our Fathers, there was sprinkling of holy water, and the wafting of incence (to symbolise the soul rising to heaven according to the priest). There was also an awful lot of singing, and bible readings, but I’ll forgive that because they also had my favourite bit, where the congregation shake hands with each other and wish each other peace.

I’m glad I was brought up a little bit Catholic, because if I hadn’t, all that would have seemed a pretty strange way to say goodbye to a loved one.

A wish for peace is a lovely sentiment – peace is a state of being that is all about our attitude to externalities, rather than an objective examination of reality. To a very large extent we create our own sense of peace, something I am experimenting with at the moment.

If only we could take it a step further. In my fantasy utopian society, the phrase “how are you” would be replaced with either the Japanese “Genki desu ka?”, or it’s english equivalent, which would be something like “How is your peace?”. The word genki is a positive descriptor of the “wa” or life force. “Is your life force balanced and well, are you feeling positive and at peace with yourself and your surroundings” is probably a little too long for a daily greeting, but isn’t it much nicer than “how are you”? A wish from a caring stranger carries with it a little bit of peace, a little bit of happiness, and it can be contagious.

So if I ever ask you “how is your Wa?”, you’ll know what I’m talking about.