The Gaelscoil in Bun An Phobail, Donegal, sent these wonderful handmade flowers to Pádraig in June – they only made it to Hamburg recently. Aren’t they beautiful?

Do you want to live as long as possible, or do you want to live as ‘good’ a life as possible – whatever that means in your particular circumstances? That’s the question a writer asked in a recent column in Der Spiegel in the context of people smoking, eating well and maybe a bit too much, drinking and maybe a bit too regularly, not eating their vegetables, not going for their early morning jogging sessions, not practicing yoga. If you don’t know what tomorrow or, indeed, the next second in your life holds in store for you, would it make sense to go for the ‘good’ life, make life ‘lebenswert’? –  80 years ago, the premier of the light operetta “Giuditta” with music by Franz Lehár took place in the Vienna State Opera. Just 4 years before Austria was annexed by the Germans with WWII starting a year later, the Austrians were celebrating life and romance.

Freunde, das Leben ist lebenswert!
Jeder Tag kann Schönes uns geben,
Jeder Tag ein neues Erleben,
Jede Stunde verjüngt sich die Welt!
Die herrliche Welt!

Friends, life is well worth living!
Every day might bring us beauty,
Every day a new adventure,
Every hour the world rejuvenates!
The wonderfull world!

Sinkt die Sonne abends nieder,
Strahlend steht sie morgen wieder
Auf dem blauen Himmelszelt!

May the evening see the sun set,
Morning gives her back its glory
Cast against the clear blue sky!

For me, there are two messages here: life is about friends, it is full of adventure in this wonderful world, and – whatever happens – there will always be another great day tomorrow. Of course, life is not always like an operetta, full of song and romance. To the contrary, at times it is almost impossible to celebrate life, to believe in this wonderful world, to see life – An Saol – and not the suffering at the centre of the ‘passion’ that is our life.

Pádraig is back on the monitors – not that he needs them, they said, but just as a precaution, as he is alone in his room and wouldn’t be able to ring an alarm if he got into trouble. We were told that we could not go out on our own with Pádraig for a walk as that would be too dangerous for him – but yes, we can continue to go onto the roof garden. He is keeping ok, no major changes. No visible signs of the drug they started him on today having any effect. But, I suppose, it’s early days.

Life is well worth living, it is lebenswert. – I am saying this knowing, feeling, seeing, every day that it is so incredibly difficult to keep going at times. That there is pain that is almost impossible to take. Injustice that makes you furious. Ignorance that wants to make you shout. Bad faith that makes you despair. – I am saying this knowing, also, that there are family, friends, people you have never met before in your life who will help you, who will never leave your side, who will spend their last penny, all the hours of the day, and share all their love with you – just because they know that you need it.

Still planning to join the brilliant Sea Swim for Pádraig on 06 September?

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Today’s German Music Tip
Fritz Wunderlich, Freunde, das Leben ist lebenswert. From “Giuditta” by Paul Knepler and Fritz Löhner, set to music by Franz Lehár.
What’s hot
Passion
What’s cold
Giving up or giving in
The German word/phrase/verse of the day
Das Leben ist lebenswert