Letter to Students 29th January 2008

Dear Reader

I am sitting at my computer with thoughts spinning around in my mind of all the things I want to share with you.  I feel so grateful for the wonderful weather we have been having since Christmas, and don’t take a single precious day for granted. 

I am sitting watching the documentary on the spiritual journey of Cat Stevens, born Steven Gordon, and then Yusuf Islam, the incredible musician who was one of the leaders of music in the 1970s.  He was one of my favourite singers and songwriters, and when I hear his songs, I immediately reminisce over my teenage years when I lived in America as a young AFS student.  Have you heard of AFS, the scholarship programme which was begun by some American war veterans who believed that if young people lived in another culture, they would never be able to go to war against their newly found friends?  My daughter also went to Japan after being interviewed by the AFS committee, so we are continuing the tradition of living in other cultures at an early age.

However, I have gone off at a tangent as I so often do.  I began by talking about Yusuf Islam, and in the wink of an eye, I am now talking about a scholarship which aims to eliminate war! Do you ever digress?  I think it is a woman thing as Han often finds my jumping from topic to topic a challenge!

To return to the previous topic, for a moment anyway, it is hard to believe that Yusuf turned his back on singing when he found the Islam faith. Why give up a God given talent?  A sense of loss was felt by all his fans.  In an act of altruism and a desire to divest himself of much of his wealth, he donated much of his money to charity; giving up a “cultural crutch to walk.”  When Yusuf read in the Koran that one shouldn’t idolize other mere mortals, he also gave up all singing as, although it wasn’t written in the Koran, he took the safe path and followed the ultra conservative Muslim view that music is a sin.  However, with the passing of time, he has softened his view, influenced by his more liberal friends who said that Yusuf’s decision was “not a sound view.” He has had four   Islam schools built in England, and has become a spokesperson for Muslims in their desire to have their children educated in the Islamic faith.  Yusuf is also a sponsor of many charities so he is actually in the limelight again, and idolized for all his good charity work!

Han played a lot of Cat Stevens over the weekend, and I love listening to him play the guitar.  Can you play a musical instrument?  I used to play the piano when I was very young, but I was really afraid of the teacher who used to hit me on the fingers with a ruler.  So much for enjoying the experience!  I still remember the small rectangular music satchel I used to carry, and I loved the satchel much more than I did the piano!  Do you think that learning a musical instrument is important for young children?  I know that almost all Asian children learn a musical instrument, and the parents send them to lessons as they believe it will enhance their overall ability to learn at school.  I wonder if enjoyment comes into it!

Playing sport is something I really enjoyed when I was a child.  There is a photo of me playing cricket in the nude at the age of two, and I continued to play cricket with my father till I left for the United States on the scholarship I mentioned above.  Mum and Dad came to watch every game, and they were so proud when I was selected for the Otago first eleven when I was thirteen years old.  It was a pity I had to make the choice between playing cricket and working in a restaurant to make money for university, and unfortunately for my cricketing career, I chose waitressing.  I have no regrets, however.  I learnt so much from that first job in what was the top restaurant in Dunedin, and it stood me in good stead for my future working life.  I think it is so important that young people have a job so that they learn the meaning of hard work and earning a penny.  All our adult children had part time jobs, and now our sixteen year old daughter, Shahan, is working at the Portobello Hotel as waitress and “dishie,” a dishwasher.  Have you noticed that Kiwis often shorten words in colloquial language?  For example, breakfast becomes “brekkie,” postman becomes “postie,” and a chip becomes “chippie.”  A chippie is also a carpenter, and you need the context to work out if someone is talking about a chip or a carpenter.  It shouldn’t be too difficult!

With this wonderful weather, we have loved being out in the fresh air, and last Sunday, Han and I went for an early morning run before kayaking around Quarantine Island.  The harbour was a millpond, and I felt as if I were in paradise.  As I ran around the peninsula road, the mountains were reflected in the water, and there was a feeling of total calm.  I felt this scenery was my church, and I quietly prayed as I jogged. There seemed to be so much energy in reserve that I ran further than I thought I could, but unfortunately I paid for it on Monday.  My legs were so sore that I felt like an old woman, and it really surprised me as I am usually naturally fit.  I truly believe that age is a state of mind, but we have to come to terms with the fact that we are getting older and our bodies are slowly aging.  It is wonderful that sixty is no longer seen as “old,” although maybe I say that because I am already approaching that milestone!  When I think of my grandparents, they were “old” at sixty, retired and taking it easy.  However, I prefer to think that I will “protire,” and continue taking up challenges and enjoying each day to the full.  There is now a play park for the elderly in England, but I don’t like to think of myself going ‘backwards” as, in a sense, we are.  We go from being born bald and wearing nappies at birth to being bald and wearing nappies in death, if we live long enough!  That is not the way I want to go out.  I want to go out with a bang, having lived each day as if it were my last.  Do I sound maudlin, as I don’t mean to do so?  However, we heard today that one of our children’s best friends died last night at the age of forty five, and it does make you stop and take stock of your life.  How tragic to die before your time, although obviously it was his time.  The death of a loved one is always traumatic, no matter how expected it is, and in the death I have just mentioned, he knew that his passing was imminent. 

I hope I haven’t stirred too many raw emotions in you, as that certainly wasn’t my intention.  It is now time to close and I look forward to seeing you tomorrow.

Love

Sharron