Date: 15 June 2009 22:48:48
Today I received an email from someone I have never met. But it made me ponder.
It was quite short and ran along the lines of "I'm writing to you because you have been in contact with my sister, M, in the past. I have the sad duty to inform you that M lost her battle last week with cancer which recurred recently. I thought you should know."
M was not a friend of mine, she was a passing acquaintance really. I had had no idea she had been so unwell. I simply participated in one of her creative writing courses three years ago. One particular memory of her is that one evening she took the class out to look at our surroundings with "new eyes". M gave us some pointers about how to look afresh at familiar surroundings (so that we could then write about them later). One thing I remember noticing was how the willow trees reflected the shape of the railway arches, near which they were growing.
In many ways, this is very unremarkable, except that I have remembered this shape and when I walk down that way at this time of year, I admire the willow trees and the arches again. And I remember that evening, the class and the tutor. And wonder again if the trees were planted deliberately with their shape in mind, or if it is a happy co-incidence that this harmony exists.
It is just a small influence M had on my life and yet one which now I am unlikely to forget for a long time...and perhaps I will now be even more conscious of the juxtaposition of the natural and built environment.
M has made a small contribution to my life - and no doubt much more significant contributions to others' lives. It reminds us that we all have the opportunity to make positive contributions to the world and these do not have to be major events. They are much more likely to be on a smaller scale and yet no less significant for that.
It seems very cruel that M's life should be cut short at the age of 52 - and yet I have reason to be thankful that our lives coincided for a few evenings three years ago.
RIP, MP.