Created 2006; Changed; 20/10/2022, 10/10/2022
Singing in the Rain – philosophy of life
As a teenager, Avril said one day that she was going to get a motorbike, which dad did not want her to do. As a young man, dad enjoyed lots of drink and a Francis Barnet motorbike – he would say this was stupid. So when Avril announced her intention, dad asked what type of motorbike – Avril who may have been expecting an argument had not got any particular model in mind and later did not bother to get the motorbike.
Recently, dad told me that it was not his Reflexology but the trust between him and his client that initiated the healing. By nature, he’s easy-going and subtly persuasive persuaded Berny the head of physiotherapy to treat him for a period a year ago, this resulted in his shoulder working a bit. His determination was impressive, he restored his reading ability by reading a sentence over and over to commit it to long-term memory because his short-term memory was useless. He then similarly re-read the paragraphs till he got some sense of the story. Dad dreamt about his leg rising 5 months after the stroke, 2 months after that senior nurse George showed dad he could now stand. Two years after the stroke, dad had a go at his arm and hand with some success.
Dad’s considerable understanding and appreciation of music was taught to him by his mother, who was a qualified pianist. His hobby included photography, which he read up and studied. He was a member of the Labour Party, his father similarly was a socialist. His father was also keen on wildlife. Music photography politics and the environment are my interests. Some jazz by Fats Waller which dad selected for me to play while he told me all the things he could not do stuck in his chair at the nursing home will follow.
Dad’s style was to go with nature, guiding it a bit, he was also single-minded. After the bombing of Afghanistan started, I came across the following quotation. Both dad and I hate war, this to some extent was his way.
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction…. The chain reaction of evil–hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars–must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.”
Martin Luther King, Jr., Strength To Love, 1963
Andrew H Lohmann, file: dad_last.doc, 15-01-02
EMAIL: andrew.h.lohmann@btinternet.com