[lit-ideas] Re: Hereabouts
- From: david ritchie <profdritchie@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: Lawrence Helm <lawrencehelm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 3 May 2021 11:44:52 -0700
On May 2, 2021, at 7:02 PM, Lawrence Helm <lawrencehelm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
David,
You said once, if I remember correctly, that after you lose them all, you
don't intend to replace them. I wasn't thinking in quite those terms when I
lost my last Ridgeback, Ben, but I have had to rethink some things since
then. I am 86 with a bum leg.
You managed to bring Nathan Hale to mind as I walked Hamish this morning. My
thought was that readers do not have “but one life”; they have many. I teach a
course called “Perspectives,” which encourages students to put themselves in
the shoes of others. In my reading and thinking recently I’ve been on Anzio
Beach, and on the vitctims’ side at Wounded Knee. And in what I call my
“circle of care”—those people I support no matter what—one is getting married
and another will be having a baby. In that way of living, experience is in
constant flux either because the Germans are running out of artillery
ammunition or because everyone is aging and being replaced.
I claim no originality here, I’m just responding to your question about whether
the chickens will be replaced. Yes, of course they will. But by more
chickens? I doubt that.
BTW I checked the tale of Hale. Apparently historians are uncertain what he
actually said. When writing about Appenzeller’s death I was wondering what her
last words might have been. Probably banal. I read this piece today:
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/30/world/europe/gareth-wild-parking-bromley-sainsbury.html?action=click&algo=bandit-all-surfaces-decay-decay-02&block=trending_recirc&fellback=false&imp_id=3641831&impression_id=06e03eb6-ac2c-11eb-8f03-2b95f346ef4c&index=6&pgtype=Article&pool=pool%2F91fcf81c-4fb0-49ff-bd57-a24647c85ea1®ion=footer&req_id=186964716&surface=most-popular-story&variant=1_bandit-all-surfaces-decay-decay-02
<
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/30/world/europe/gareth-wild-parking-bromley-sainsbury.html?action=click&algo=bandit-all-surfaces-decay-decay-02&block=trending_recirc&fellback=false&imp_id=3641831&impression_id=06e03eb6-ac2c-11eb-8f03-2b95f346ef4c&index=6&pgtype=Article&pool=pool/91fcf81c-4fb0-49ff-bd57-a24647c85ea1®ion=footer&req_id=186964716&surface=most-popular-story&variant=1_bandit-all-surfaces-decay-decay-02>
That very car park was where my brother sat, with mending ankle, and waited for
me to say goodbye to my mother’s mortal remains. What were my last words to
her, or hers to me? The last conversation I had with her was from a pay phone
at Gatwick airport. She probably said something like, “Have a nice flight.”
As for the photos. To me number twenty-two is perfect.
You must like arid a lot more than I do.
David Ritchie,
a green and pleasant land.
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