‘Coming Home to the Cove’…..Well, well, well…. While On The Subject Of Death…..
by Bernie Bell - 09:51 on 08 January 2023
Coming Home to the Cove......
A Story of Family, Memory, and Stolen Land
An Emergence Magazine Production
“In this three-part audio story, Theresa Harlan chronicles her Coast Miwok family’s displacement from their homestead on a cove in Tomales Bay and shares her grassroots efforts to involve the wider community in protecting both the history and the future of this place. In this series we ask: Who gets to define history? In what ways is it our responsibility to ensure that a shared history is an accurate and just representation of the places we call home?”
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Well, well, well….
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-64188177
I understand that isolating and having less contact with people probably decreases our immunity to infections But at the same time, the simplest precautions taken against Covid – such as wearing a mask indoors when among un-known people and keeping your distance – should help to reduce the risk of catching ‘flu too.
Viruses are clever… https://theorkneynews.scot/2022/02/08/thinking-aloud-again/
We under-rate them at our peril.
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While On The Subject Of Death…..
I read in ‘The Orkney News’ that Ceri Dare and Helen Woodford-Dean are organizing a ‘Death Café’ in the St. Magnus Centre….https://theorkneynews.scot/2023/01/06/launch-of-orkney-death-cafe/ , the idea being that folk can maybe become more comfortable with the idea of death, and with the idea of their own mortality.
This reminded me of years ago when the husband of a friend, knowing my views, stated defiantly…… “There is no life after death”, and I replied …..“Well, we’ll all find out when we die.” He didn’t want a discussion, he just wanted to squash me.
This was from a man who is afraid to live, never mind die.
Personally, I’d prefer if I could switch off when I die. After this life - which has had a lot of plus and a lot of minus - for me the idea of enough is enough, that’s that, end of, is very appealing. ‘Calm of mind, all passion spent’ – Samson Agonistes – John Milton.
But experience has taught me otherwise and I think that what happens when we die differs, as we differ, and I believe that life is a continuum….. https://theorkneynews.scot/2017/11/13/how-i-see-the-whole-life-lovelightgodreiki-etc-etc-thing/ .
I’ve previously written along these lines…. http://www.spanglefish.com/berniesblog/blog.asp?blogid=15981
https://theorkneynews.scot/2017/10/31/halloween-musings/
Sometimes people are aware of their past existences, sometimes not. I’d go for ‘best not’ as dealing with it all from fresh appeals more than carrying it all along with me.
Over the holidays we watched the recent television series of ‘The Canterville Ghost’ which we had recorded…. https://www.channel5.com/show/the-canterville-ghost and which strayed a bit from the original story by Oscar Wilde, but was most excellent and I can’t help imagining Sir Simon de Centerville’s response to the Death Café.
Picture it…..people are gathered at the Death Café. The door opens, the door closes, a chair is pulled back and a dent appears in the seat cushion. A ‘dead’ person is present. Some of those assembled there aren’t comfortable with this and try to persuade the ‘dead’ person to leave, when they hear a voice saying….”I see - a Death Café – but only the living are allowed – typical.” Sir Simon speaks!
Who better to tell us about being dead, than a dead person?
I’ve thought that before when reading of ‘spooky’ walks being organized, either in Orkney or elsewhere – Edinburgh comes to mind – that it’d be a hoot if a dead person turned up and actually wanted to take part.
That’s pretty much how I see it – we’re all part of LIFE and can have exchanges and help each other, if we choose to do so – as in ‘The Canterville Ghost.”
Oscar knew a thing or two.
By the by – I don’t fear death – but I do fear being very ill again and what that would impose on Mike – and so, I go on and on and on about folk behaving as though Covid has gone away.
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Holy Sonnets: Death, be not proud
Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;
For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow
Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,
Much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee do go,
Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery.
Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,
And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well
And better than thy stroke; why swell'st thou then?
One short sleep past, we wake eternally
And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.
John Donne
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Here’s one I made earlier….. https://theorkneynews.scot/2020/04/25/walking-out-from-the-house-again/
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