It’s 27 May 2013 and I’ve had yet another notification from a friend that she has lost another family member to the grim reaper and that her one remaining dog (after having two put down earlier this year) had to be rushed to the vet and seems to have had a stroke affecting his mobility amongst other things.
This set me to thinking, something I do a lot of but get nowhere with…
Is 2013 a particularly horrific year for everyone, just a minority or is it simply because I’m getting to that age… you know, the one where everyone who was old when you were 20 is now ancient and therefore knocking at, if not going through death’s door..
Personally I fear it’s a combination but maybe I’m missing an angle.
Only a few months ago, a young fella I knew from when he was merely 11years old, a snotty schoolkid knocking at the door for one of mine – he commited suicide, only 27 years of age. A month later, a colleague I know well suffered a much deeper heartache for the same reason. It was his son who hung himself, age 26.
These events were 2012 but towards the end of…. which led to the particularly dreadful 2013 start. My husband’s nan died January, my good friend’s brother died February and she had to have 2 dogs put down due to one having a heart attack and the other having cancer, in March my sister-in-law died, in April another good friend found out that they’d lost their job, then was diagnosed with cancer, 4 work colleagues have been diagnosed with various cancers……and finally May, the one who lost her brother has just also lost her grandpa and her remaining dog has just had a stroke and my cousin in Australia has just had to have a pacemaker fitted and is very poorly- and I only found out she existed 6 months or so ago!…………
Now, one would think it a string of coincidences based on ages etc, include the dogs in that – but no. If you recall, 1st person only 27 and the 2nd 26. OK, Nan was 96 but the brother was 54. The dogs were 6, 8 and the eldest remaining, but sickly now, is 10.and so on. No, age isn’t the reason, it can only be factored in as part of…
On a personal note, we as a family suffered massively financially for a decision I made 7 years ago – it catches you in the end. Nothing illegal or immoral I hasten to add… I just tried to help someone but never thought it through, never considered the what ifs. Then with 2 funerals in the family in as many months, work pressures, the resident offsprings natural mother causing grief, the resident offsprings sisters adding to that grief, the boiler broke, the electricity bill was massive, a cat got sick, cost a fortune, got well again, I suffered a mini (and they call it silent) heart attack, more on that another day……… life in general seems to be knocking my legs from under me almost daily.
So, such a sad year for many.
We don’t have to go far to read daily other peoples’ struggle with 2013 either … Drummer Lee Rigby being the most prominent in current news.. actions so horrific, barbaric and aimed at dividing a nation. The family hear the sorry for your losses and many condolences… but behind the doors is this the first this year for them or simply the worst?
Tornadoes, plane crashes, earthquakes, killings, threats of violence, wars, economic struggles and ruin, threats against religion and religious ceremonies. … Life seems to be rocked at every corner of the world more so this year that ever.
But why?
Is it ‘fate’? Has the world literally ‘gone mad’?
I fear it is mainly coincidence…sad but still coincidence. Some of the actions- the hacking of a soldier, the hanging of self, these are results of today’s pressure in life and expectations of redemption in one twisted way or another. Those dying of diseases, sadly just a time where I personally know people who are older and more susceptible. Natural disasters always happen, and perhaps the angry planet is getting a little more ferocious but I’m sure records have shown worse.
No, there’s nothing sinister about 2013 that isn’t just life bludgeoning on in it’s own interminable way, dragging souls, killing those who, for whatever reason can’t keep up. It’s not the end of the world, or bad just because 13 is ‘unlucky’. It’s not worse now than it’s ever been. It’s the same as its always been, we… or maybe I should say ‘I’ just notice more.
2013… unlucky for some, Chinese year of the snake – translated to ‘full of obstacles’, some viscious in nature, full of solar flares and economic mismanagement… yeah – a bad year……….isn’t it?
mrsskeats 