There is this famous fable about some blind men touching different part of an elephant and each providing an account of what they ‘see’.
They all ‘see’ the same elephant in a different way and they all come to different conclusion as to what they are dealing with.
Taking their conclusions and combining them into one picture produces a very different animal altogether.
For me, the conclusion or the ‘moral’ of this story is that everything is a matter of perspective.
Still, sometimes i think I would like to see the elephant. But, maybe, even if I would see it, how would I know whether that was the real thing. And, at the end of the day, does it really matter?
Today, Pádraig must have yearned for his hardest days in Kentucky, in the UK pool – in comparison, they must seem to him now like a holiday camp. I am sure the training with coach Gary Conelly, who retired last year after 23 years, was incredibly hard. I also know that Mary and then Nickey in his Dublin-based clubs CRC and Westwood were tough coaches. His sister today said that one of the coaches said that he wouldn’t really get worried until the heart beat went above 220. Well, they are looking after the heart beat here and stop before it gets out of hand, making sure it doesn’t get up that high, but what the physios are doing with Pádraig is no joke – come afternoon, he is absolutely and completely exhausted. I know it’s really tough going, but at the same time it’s so great to see him being able to take all of this on, and still be fine. In fact, getting better all the time!
I had a long talk with the music therapist today. He said it was great to see the Kila CDs and the CD player, and that he was looking forward to getting the ‘Friends’ Compilation’ when it’s ready (I am still working on it). He mentioned that he played Horslips first album, Happy To Meet, Sorry To Part, which they had recorded in 1972 in The Rolling Stones mobile studio in Longfield House in Tipperary. (I forgot to ask him whether he had the original album which has a really elaborate cover.) – The idea of the music sessions is to try and connect with Pádraig through music. He was very interested hearing about the stories many of his friends shared with us. Pádraig is a real music lover and when he takes to a song, he surely does, playing and singing it nonstop, until he knows it inside out, until he has shared it with the people around him, and – until the next really brilliant song comes around!
I never had a chance to play today’s German music tip to Pádraig, a song which I remember as ‘Was sollen wir trinken’ but which is really called ‘Sieben Tage lang’ – one day I will, and I hope he’ll like it. It sounds like a drinking song at the beginning, and ends like a call to action:
Jetzt müssen wir streiten keiner weiß wie lang.
Ja für ein Leben ohne Zwang.
Dann kriegt der Frust uns nicht mehr klein.
Wir halten zusammen keiner kämpft allein!
Wir gehen zusammen nicht allein.
What ‘reality’ is, is a matter of perspective. Reality often doesn’t last, you blink and it has changed. Reality often is just a part of a bigger animal, what you ‘see’ could just be the tail. Reality is what you make it, whatever perspective you choose. Reality can hit hard, but music can bring hope and give strength. “Wir halten zusammen, keiner kämpft allein!” We are sticking together, no one fights by himself!
Today’s German Music Tip
Bots, Sieben Tage lang (1980)
The original version by the Dutch band Bots from 1976 is called Zeven dagen lang. The German singer song writer Diether Dehm translated the song into German, and the Bots recorded it in 1980. The song starts with „Was wollen wir trinken, sieben Tage lang” – What are we going to drink, over seven days. There is a bit of a discussion about who recorded the first version of the song. Alan Stivell’s plays the song which apparently is based on an already existing tune with the original title: Ev’ chistr ‘ta, Laou. The lyrics Stivell is using are in Breton and accompanied by himself on a Celtic harp. (There is a note by someone on youtube about the French and the Breton language that should sound familiar to many Irish speakers: As a frenchman of breton origins i never understood that way of thinking. It seems like France is afraid of its regions. The history of breton people in France is terrible : our language was forbidden, children in school were punished if they were caught speaking it. Yes French is the only official language of France and it’s i think the only country which has not signed the “European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages”. Some sources claim this song was written by an unknown Breton piper in the late 1920s. Most likely, it was written by Jean-Bernard and Jean-Marie Prima in 1929.)
What’s hot
Perspective
What’s cold
Certainty
The German word/phrase/verse of the day
Frust
Twitter: @forPadraig
#caringforPadraig
http://www.caringforPadraig.org
Upcoming events: http://www.caringforPadraig.org/events
Hospi-Tales 
Perspective is difficult and the main problema is that you don´t know if the snake belongs to a bigger totus or not…. About minority languages in Spain we have also our Stories,… and very interesting ones because even in the same country each one had a different evolution. While catalán was accepted even in the upper society its academy was founded in 1863 and spoken by rich and poor, gallego was mainly spoken by people in the country side even if we had important poets and an language academy fighting for the correct use of the Gallego since the 19th century and then we have the basque language and its cultura with a mainly rural origing and even being our oldest an most fascinating language was not often written and therefore had lots of different dialects and when they wanted to créate a system to teach at schools they had to put several main dialects together and generate the Batua wich means unificated basque language.
Gallego and Cataln are very similar to Castellano (Spanish) and if you make an effort you can understand them at least partially but basque is so different that you have to learn it if you really want to understand anything at all.
Language only becomes a problem, Ana, when you make one of it. Otherwise, it’s just a beautiful instrument to interact with the world around you. It’s great that so many languages of Spain have survived despite all the attempts to eliminate them. – Reinhard
Great to hear that they are putting Pádraig through his paces.
“Reality often doesn’t last, you blink and it has changed. Reality often is just a part of a bigger animal, what you ‘see’ could just be the tail. Reality is what you make it, whatever perspective you choose.”
Wow! Thanks for writing, as always.
It has to be late, you have to have had a long day, and you have to be tired, to make this stuff up, Ciara:)
Miseciara very interesting post is the quote yours?
It’s perspective, Ana:)