Remembering division

We seem to be losing a lot of famous (and infamous!) names at the moment ...

It's been very curious to see the differing reactions to the latest one (the Iron Lady). To some she's revered, to some she's reviled. I'm not going to say which side of the fence I'm on (although some readers will know !), that's not the point of this post.

There's two points I want to talk about - how do we want to be remembered ? And how should we remember other people ?

That second point is actually the true key. How we look at others is a reflection on our own souls. You have to have a very dark place in your's to revile a fellow human being so much. It doesn't matter who it is you're talking about there. To wish another person dead is a sign that there's something wrong with you.

(I have to also say there "Or something seriously wrong with them." As believe it or not, I'm pro death penalty. But only in the truly extreme cases where permanent institutionalisation or incarceration isn't an option)

I'll not go too far back in history but when I heard that Gaddafi had died, I'd remembered what he'd done. I was actually fairly ambivalent to his passing, he'd been removed as a threat to our world by his own people. What my major emotion actually was involved some revulsion at our supposed allies, who had lynched him instead of using due process (like with Saddam).

What I've seen from some people with Maggie Thatcher resembles what the lynch mob thought of Gaddafi.

Yes you. I'm talking about you. Look at yourself from the outside without all those preconceptions and blinkered ideas that keep getting thrown at a world that doesn't agree with them and which doesn't want to know.

There's a few people like that out there. They'll insist on thrusting their own prejudice on you from a point of view of "yeah, my view is outrageous, how come your's is different ? something wrong with you ?" I can appreciate the art but no I won't be getting any tattoos any time soon, even though a few people I know see them as essential. But then again, having tattoos now would be spectacularly stupid because of my ongoing skin condition.

Been ranting haven't I ...

Chill pill time :-)

We've been losing some very significant people over the past few months and there's more to come.

Two examples - my nan is one. I've wanted to say something there for a little while now. I have a few different last memories of my nan. She was fairly smart, although age was slowing her down there. She could understand most of the modern tech, although that was partly a curse for us because it meant she could figure out how to break stuff. Lol.

But around Xmas time, she'd started fading and was losing track of conversations. By the time the end came, there wasn't much left in there. I'll remember that for a long time (curse of memory) but what I'll then do is retrieve the picture in my head of my nan grinning away at us. That's a better time to remember. It was also reinforced by what her friends said about her at the funeral. Their memories were wholly of the last good times, with my nan being the life of their little circle.

Yep - those memories, the good memories are the ones to remember.

My second example isn't dead yet but he's now on borrowed time. I've become a big fan of Iain M Banks. His Culture novels are well worth reading. The Algebraist was pretty darn good too. But ... he's been diagnosed with a cancer that gives him about a year to live. We'll remember him through his books. Hopefully he'll have the chance to write the truly definitive Culture novel. The last few have been promising to reach the heights of Excession but haven't quite hit it. Surface Detail was amazing but Matter and Hydrogen Sonata were non-Culture in the case of the first and So What in the case of the second.

Still, we'll remember him through some truly exceptional books. Like we'll remember Heath Ledger for films like A Knight's Tale and Dark Knight. He's another who was taken from us too early.

I'll leave it there - but I'll ask : when you reflect back on your thoughts, will you be truly happy that you metaphorically spit on another human's grave ?

PS It was Men In Black 3 (not bad actually) tonight but I think a viewing of A Knight's Tale is due.