RELATIVE VALUES - COURAGE AND DECENCY

This time of year reminds us frequently of the people in our lives, past and present. Some of them are in touch with us and the renewed contact evokes memories both of shared experiences as well as, our relationship with them. 

The relatives we hear from and meet up with are a keystone. They bridge the gap between the past and the present. Like the idea of BFF, our relatives have always been part of our lives. They are, of course, related closely to all of those we love.

For good or ill, our relatives know who we are, where we really live and where we have been. Most of them have been with us when we celebrated and perhaps more importantly, when we grieved. Most of the experiences we shared together were and will always be, important to us. Like it or not, they have more in common with us than we think.

I thought today about courageous men. I knew I would marry a courageous man because I was raised by one. Both of them lived quiet decent lives and faced death in quiet and dignified ways. I wish neither of them had to call on the courage they had within them and that various elements of their lives might have been happier or easier, but ultimately both of them lived good lives and ones that were honest and decent.

As the year ends, I will see many members of my family. The foods we will share, the Christmas song and prayer are those our family have said and sung for over a thousand years.

While it may be true that you can never go home again, in the sense of duplicating a time from your past, when you had a home worthy of the name, you take the lessons you learned and pass them on to those around you and those who will follow you. There is comfort in this, especially in a world where so many are so desperate to escape their past that they waste the present too.

I am glad of whatever opportunity I have to honour those who have preceded me and who bequeathed to me their noble traditions and beliefs. These gifts thankfully have made life make more sense than it would have without them.