tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319797996494487653.post9097924542866645478..comments2023-12-30T17:31:11.883+00:00Comments on The Solitary Walker: Grass Roots And Broken TowersThe Solitary Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11284354541952038339noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319797996494487653.post-28354657047418072922015-02-07T23:36:19.495+00:002015-02-07T23:36:19.495+00:00Off the top of my head, perhaps the realization th...Off the top of my head, perhaps the realization that kicks in as one gets older is that most people (even if they're idiotic, misguided, falling short, etc.) are trying to do their best most of the time? <br /><br />Just watched the old footage of the 1924 Everest Expedition. They said the Abbott of Rongphuk Monastery (I think it was him) offered the members of the expedition friendship and every possible help -even though he told them the Lamaist gods would prevent them from succeeding. There's a moral there somewhere.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319797996494487653.post-65288759716377164242015-02-07T18:04:17.921+00:002015-02-07T18:04:17.921+00:00That was fascinating, that stream-of-consciousness...That was fascinating, that stream-of-consciousness thought process, Dominic, as you appeared to give us spontaneously your ideas and opinions as they occurred to you.<br /><br />I think you had good reasons to be cynical when you were young — your school, your politics. But realism, as you make clear, is the real word. And, accepting the reality of the world, one can then perhaps become less cynical... and more pragmatically idealistic?The Solitary Walkerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11284354541952038339noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319797996494487653.post-8254645789312202022015-02-07T06:56:18.989+00:002015-02-07T06:56:18.989+00:00Interesting, the computer reference. Computers we...Interesting, the computer reference. Computers were not ubiquitous back then. How would one allude to computers in that way now? Some sort of reference to software? I'm always fascinated by the way what we mean by what we say changes over time.<br /><br />You say "so cynical for one so young". I might have said it too of myself but, on reflection, don't we get less cynical as we get older? (Stops typing and wonders...) Hm. When I was young, people told me I was cynical. The accusation implies that, actually, things were better than I thought and my view was distorted. Now I realise I'm not (and never was) cynical. The world really is like that. :)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319797996494487653.post-18906157477173751292015-02-05T17:27:12.781+00:002015-02-05T17:27:12.781+00:00Thanks for this comment, Amanda. And I'm glad ...Thanks for this comment, Amanda. And I'm glad the poem reached you.<br /><br />My businessman dad was a miller — but small-scale farmer too. Some of my cousins were/are farmers. My dad didn't seem to mind too much when I rejected the five-generational family business, but he was quite dubious at first about other activities I pursued. He was disappointed in various things I did, but I know he loved me in his distant, austere, Victorian way. He was so different from me, Then again, lately I've been discovering some resemblances (not all of them pretty!) Do we end up like our parents? No, we don't — but we do, I think, appreciate and come to value our parents in more mature and subtle ways. The Solitary Walkerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11284354541952038339noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319797996494487653.post-83922279266631493212015-02-04T16:35:48.786+00:002015-02-04T16:35:48.786+00:00Grass Roots and Broken Towers.
Do I hear an echo ...Grass Roots and Broken Towers.<br /><br />Do I hear an echo of full moon and empty arms in the title of your post today?<br /><br />"Lexicon of Life" recalls my own businessman father who was passionate about his work in the oil industry but after retiring said simply, "I should have been a farmer." He was disappointed in me until he wasn't. I wonder if I did what he secretly wanted to do. Thus the conflict. I was disappointed in him until I wasn't.<br /><br />I am moved by "Isle of Axholme." The brothers. The landscape. Coming and going. The curlew's cry, the low hills, the fields, the church, the river, the sky, the so long, and the friendship.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />amhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09212213177713917828noreply@blogger.com