Ed Said - A season for everything

 

It’s hard to find anyone who doesn’t enjoy autumn, mainly due to the weather – still warm enough for shorts and shirtsleeves, no more sweltering nights, maybe just pulling the duvet up a wee bit with the onset of a little chill but happy to be past the sultry nights of summer and not yet cogniscent of how drastic winter can be once it bares its teeth.

For gardeners it’s a busy time. Dead-heading flowers will keep them in bloom longer but basically though lettuce and silver beet may run to seed until they appear again in the spring and, even if left unattended will continue like perpetual motion. I’m reminded of King Soloman’s words ’to everything there is a season and a time for every purpose’.

Unfortunately it doesn’t seem to work quite the same for humans. We only get one roll of the dice and though some throw a higher number than others we’re generally only allotted three-score and ten years yet this can only ever be a general average given life’s necessary and often unnecessary trials and tribulations we put ourselves through.

I guess its fair to assume that we arrive here in spring, all new and lively and with the world at our feet. Summer is our productive years, raising families, establishing businesses and, though accumulating a lot of debt, having the energy and nous to overcome the greater part of it. Then we head into our autumn, when the kids are at least taking care of themselves, the mortgage is under control or almost wiped giving us the freedom both with energy, spirit and a little disposable cash to go where we like, when we like.

Unfortunately there has also to be a winter in the season of our lives, though recently we have been introduced to the ‘Golden Age,’ that mythological period of primeval human existence perceived as an ideal state when human beings are pure and free from suffering. ‘Hmmmmm,’ he thinks. Nice way to end our days though depending almost entirely on our personal state of financial dependence and secondly our state of health.

There are numerous means through which we can maintain wellness, both mental and physical, and for some walking, cycling, and yoga keep us mobile and largely problem-free and retaining our marbles. However for many the Golden Age is rather the winter if their discontent as, regardless of our amazing caring mechanisms, medicine and technology, a number end their days in pain and

suffering. Unfortunately that’s life too, and as we age, either option may befall us at any given time but for being in a different place at a different time, having watched our diet, exercised more or prayed occasionally.

For now though lets enjoy autumn, plant our winter gardens, spend some time with those who are in the spring or summer of their lives in the sure and simple knowledge that winter will soon be upon us. Look past that to longer, warmer days that arrive in September and plan ahead with a degree of optimism.

Rob