Ashes

"There is no cure for birth and death save to enjoy the interval", said George Santayana, Spanish American philosopher, poet and novelist and what better philosophy could anyone follow.


Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday which somehow seems appropriate as tomorrow the country will join the people of Christchurch in remembering the grief and devastation caused by the February 22 earthquake that shook their already ravaged and broken city yet again. 


How challenging it must be for Christchurch residents to follow Santayana's seemingly simple philosophy when many of their lives have been turned upside down, they are still trying to cope with the grief of it all as well as many being in a limbo situation as the powers-that-be try to decide what zone their homes or businesses are in. 

Ashes are a reminder of who someone we loved was
and that Love does not die - people do.

For many their lives are in ashes in every sense of the world. 185 lives were lost in that earthquake - with some of the dead unable to be identified. Just how do those families deal with such devastating grief? No words can truly encompass this tragedy. Homes and businesses were also destroyed, iconic heritage buildings reduced shattered and broken some reduced to mere dust and rubble. And still the earth shakes.


Ash Wednesday derives its name from the practice of some Christian Churches placing ashes on the foreheads of the faithful on the sign of the cross as a sign of mourning and repentance to mark the beginning of Lent.which lasts for 46 days prior to Easter. The ashes used are usually from the burning of the palms used at the previous year's Palm Sunday. In other cultures ash is also used on the head and body as signs of mourning. 


Repentance was also  signified in some religions by wearing sackcloth and covering the head and face with ashes. So we tend to associate ashes with death and destruction.


However, ash also has some really useful properties. Some plant based ash was used by the Anglo Saxons to make soap and glass and ash is still used in the making of these products.  A type of ash that comes from the burning of coal is used in concrete making and ash is excellent in the garden and for cleaning windows and silver ware.


So, like the phoenix, people too can rise out of the 'ashes' of the traumas, disasters and challenges of our lives as the people of Christchurch are doing.. We can celebrate the re-building of shattered lives, of a shattered city and of  shattered hopes and dreams. We can celebrate what is really important and that is people, for it is the people who are the true heartbeat and the soul of a city. It is people who have the vision, the determination and the will to go on, to survive and to dream and to carry on.


We can remember those brave pioneers who built Christchurch - who built the New Zealand we know today and we can look forward to a new beginning and a rebirth that will come from those ashes.


We are survivors - as I discovered when my beloved Chris died nearly 18 years ago. My world had shattered, I had lost my purpose to go on but as I journeyed through my grief I realised that I had to go on. And I have, as have millions of people across the ages. 


Life does go on and as Santayana says, 'there is no cure for birth and death' (and I guess we can add taxes to that) so we each owe it to ourselves, our families, our communities and our country to pick up the flag of hope, to light a torch and to step out into the unknown  - for therein lies the future. The choice is ours.

And it seems to me, that despite the frustrations, anger, despair and apparent dysfunctional governance that is exactly what the people of Christchurch are endeavouring  to do. 


Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy said, "Life isn't a matter of milestones but of moments", and tomorrow will be when we remember those few devastating moments when life changed forever for the people of Christchurch and for New Zealand. We will also look to a brighter future where dreams can be dreamed and dreams can come true.


Whenever life has threatened to overwhelm me during my life I keep this quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson (yes I am a bit of a fan of his) in front of me - 

'When it’s darkest, men see the stars'.