Dear friends,
there was a moment this year when all
clocks in my surroundings stopped, also my wrist watch and even the battery
charger of my photo camera stopped functioning, five altogether. It was shortly
after the funeral of Kalle, my husband, the captain of our boat, for over
thirty years. I had to reload them, change batteries, charge them with fresh
energy, my own from now on? Is this the meaning of it?
I have my time of mourning and I still
feel his presence but I know that Kalle would not want me to give up on
anything. What is it that people remember when a person leaves the circle of
family and friends, when he leaves the garden of life? It is the values a
person has lived by, the values he stood up for and this is what I want to talk
about now at the end of the year 2018.
Values such as honesty, humbleness,
awareness. If you live with nature not against it, if you see yourself as a
link in the big chain, you will be able to participate and share. Being a
sailor for most of his life Kalle knew about this basic law. When you are out
with your boat, you have to obey the laws of wind and sea and your boat and
your crew will be safe. Care for your surroundings and keep a good
understanding with human and other beings, you will then benefit in the end.
Kalle would never believe that someone
would tell a lie or would deceive him, it deeply hurt him when he found out and
he never told a lie himself. When you live with nature you cannot cheat, you
will be the one to suffer and when you observe your surroundings you will
recognize the signs so you can act accordingly.
He was much interested in what was
going on around him and I found a bursting file where he kept copies he made
from articles about political developments on the island, background stories; he
believed in freedom but also in responsibility towards society, one’s neighbour
and the world in general. He had one basic rule of thumb: Do what you expect
others to do to you.
We both were, and I am, very concerned
about the future of our world. It is one of the most serious situations we are
going through and if we don’t watch out and change our politics, our individual
attitudes, we will all perish. We must lift our eyes that are glued to the
I-phone, to our very own concerns, and see the entire picture that our world
truly presents. Countries that say, we first, closing their doors without even
considering that a worldwide cooperation is needed to find a solution, will
perish all the same and even more because they cannot expect the help and
consideration of others any more. The pictures of the last two wars are still
vivid in our minds, a third one would be much worse, it would be the end.
It is in the small cells, as old
philosophers already said, the individual circle, the family, the schools, then
the communities, were democracy and the laws of nature are to be exercised and
when the small cell functions then the whole net of cells will be functioning,
that means education from young age on how to be a responsible human being. We
are cutting the branch we are sitting on, we are destroying the infrastructure
we are living on.
My Christmas messages get more and more
serious with the years, yes, but it is our world that is getting worse and I am
scared, not for me but for our next generations.
While you are celebrating Christmas and
the arrival of the New Year, use it to give some thoughts to the problems of
the world.
Heidi,
today,
1st Sunday in Advent 2018
My wishes for peaceful
Christmas days and a good New Year 2019