TheBanyanTree: Don't let the sun go down

[John Bailey]

Monday September 29, 2003

DON'T LET THE SUN GO DOWN

I've been changing my routes one by one over the past few weeks, partly to 
avoid driving through some of the dour villages and post-industrial 
wastelands that lay across the more direct roads but mainly in pursuit of 
open skies and green landscape. I'll drive some miles by a round-about 
route to see an attractive stand of trees against the sky or to view a 
sweep of hillside, drawing the eyes upwards.

I can't say it's been a campaign in response to a deliberate decision, just 
a yearning for more open space than surrounds me when I look out of the 
window here. Another item for the list of parameters when we get round to 
house hunting next time.

                         * * * * *

The funeral took place today of an acquaintance from our time in Somerset, 
not a close acquaintance, just someone we both knew from old times. Now, 
it's always sad when someone dies. It's even sadder when they die young. 
And, of course, it's ultimately sad when they leave behind people who are 
going to find the loss especially difficult to cope with. No matter what 
the circumstances, I feel deeply for those who are left behind.

But. The last time I saw this person, only a few weeks ago, she was busily 
cutting me dead in the most theatrical fashion, acting on some minor slight 
which either Graham or myself, or both of us, are deemed to have committed 
against another member of her group a couple of years back. I can't say I 
was much bothered by being cut dead in those circumstances but it must have 
registered or I'd not be thinking of it now. I am not too proud of this 
train of thought; I try to do better than that. But, let's be honest, when 
someone cuts you dead for no good reason and then they up and die shortly 
afterwards, suddenly and without warning, your immediate response to the 
news is liable to be, well, shall we say, underwhelming?

Even so, I am saddened by the event, and wish it could have turned out 
otherwise. The search for a moral here is not difficult -- 'Never let the 
sun go down on a dispute'.

There's another one, too -- 'Life is not a rehearsal'. And another -- 'The 
world is not a stage; stop acting'. I could go on but I won't; it's clear 
enough to me that a situation that is riddled through and through with 
homely axioms is one that's not been handled well.

--
John Bailey   Carmarthenshire, Wales
journal of a writing man
<http://www.oldgreypoet.com>