Just to say, "Thanks John - 'Fred' " - while you remained with us (in the land of the living, if in the land of Oz) we really/certainly/most matter-of-fact definitely 'didn't know how lucky we were'...didn't have the faintest idea, even, of - how very 'fortunate' we were, 'how truly propitious were [our collective circumstances]'. No indeed. Rest in peace. You were well and truly one of our greatest sons, quite literally one in a multitude, mate...inimitable, irreplaceable, and someone who will be sorely missed, and not only by your beloved family.
How special and fitting that you departed from us while out on a 'Sunday walk' (I believe) with your loved ones, sightseeing and birdwatching and photographing in Australia's Grampian National Park. Though upon the death of anyone publicly esteemed many come out of the woodwork whose observations and reflections seem insincere and somewhat hollow - whose very lives reveal virtually the diametrical opposite of what the deceased stood for and championed throughout their lives - that can never take away from the impact of those selfsame lives upon the communities they leave behind. But so often the words are not spoken when they should have been, while those 'grandees' remained alive...and could appreciate the sentiments expressed; and be benefited therefrom.
In 'Maoritanga' they often say that when a great person dies, a sign seen shortly before is that of kereru - wood pigeons - in the vicinity (or suchlike), and sure as night follows day follows night, a few days earlier Yours Truly was startled during a daily saunter in our neighbourhood by the largest number of said *avians atop a power pole overhead. And I also vividly recall the torrential downpour throughout the hours-long state funeral service for one of most beloved prime ministers, Norman Kirk, as Maori singers and the like turned out in large numbers to mourn his premature departing... . So perhaps a gentle token of One Above echoing our sadness by adding a 'gentle' token of His own to our collective grief, though the present potentially deadliest cyclone for half a century to hit our shores will even 'outdo' that deluge in its ferocity (of rainfall and winds). And here in Dunedin we've just had some more 'sizeable'/appreciable precipitation two nights ago now, not to mention Edgecumbe's and Whakatane'e and the Bay of Plenty's recent rendezvous only a week or so earlier with Cyclone Debbie... .
So once again, rest in peace, John...and may you be one of those of whom the Good Book so eloquently testifies, who, 'not having the Law [of God] [as an overt guiding principle in their lives][yet] by nature do the things contained in the Law [i.e.fulfil the requirements of said Law]'; 'these, not having the Law, are a Law to themselves, who [thus] show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts [either] accusing or else excusing them...in the Day when God will judge the secrets of [human beings] by Jesus Christ.' That at least is my fervent hope and wish.
*Strictly speaking, 'aves', according to my ever handy 'ole Chambers Concise Dictionary.
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