I was driving my Subaru Outback up Oak Glen Road, about half-way to the house, at a good rate of speed . . about 50 MPH or so, and I started thinking of a miniseries in the 1970’s, Shogun. During one of the scenes a pet bird dies while Blackthorne is away. The grandfather of the family who was caring for the property commits hara-kiri, an honorable death in the then-Japanese culture. Blackthorne is outraged, but it is a death with honor for the family.
When I was young, in the 1970’s, I like to think, 😊 , I thought this was outrageous. Dying for a bird. Where is the honor in that? It is just more death on top of death. Living, communicating, and contributing . . that’s where there is honor.
But, of course, that misses the point. That was then, feudal Japan, where the opportunity to do something honorable, something recognizable for the family and the culture, was extremely limited. How many opportunities are there to do that in life? And, what an honor it was to be able to do something, if that is the only thing you could do.
Just then, in my headlights was a full-grown deer. Big, perhaps 100 lbs, not ten feet from my car hurtling at high speed toward the deer who was running at a similarly high speed across the front of my car. For only an instant, it was there. And, then it was gone.
OMG. I almost killed a deer.
Good to have you back! Been awhile since you posted!