remembering jimmy

on friday, dave and i attended a memorial service by the palliative care unit at the mater hospital for those who had lost loved ones over the past year.  even though dave's dad been cared for briefly by this team, it was lovely to be invited.

i still shake my head everytime i think about the events of last year, as i know that it's hard on daves family, especially his mum, but it was meaningful to be able to attend the service and take a moment to reflect on the passing of his dad, and to acknowledge the difficult and sad time that others close to me are experiencing.

  *******

It is difficult to accept that life is difficult; that love is not easy and that doubt and struggle, suffering and failure, are inevitable for each and every one of us. We seek life's ease. We yearn for joy and release, for flowers and the sun. And although we may find these in abundance we also find ourselves lying awake at night possessed by the terrible fear that life is impossible. Sometimes when we least expect it we wake up overwhelmed by a massive sense of loneliness, misery, chaos and death: appalled by the agony and futility of existence. It is difficult indeed to accept that this darkeness belongs naturally and importantly to our human condition and that we must live with it and bear it. It seems so unbearable. Nature, however, requires that we have the darkness of our painful feelings and that we respect it and make a bold place for it in our lives. Without its recognition and acceptance there can be no true sense of life's great depth, wherein lies our capacity to love, to create and to make meaning.

Michael Leunig