Day of the Dead. OT and possibly lame

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Wayno

Big Wall climber

Seattle, WA

Topic Author's Original Post - Nov 1, 2012 - 02:49pm PT

Today seems like a good day for another lame thread. Here goes.

I guess in some cultures, the Day of the Dead(yesterday), is the day you can talk to dead people, esp. loved ones.

Without getting into anything too philosophical or argumentative, if you could talk to the dead, and they could listen and reply, who would you talk to and what would you talk about? A question, a thank you, catching up?

I'll check back tonight to see how lame this is.

Michelle

Trad climber

Toshi's Station, picking up power converters.

Nov 1, 2012 - 02:59pm PT

My mom.

Tricouni

Mountain climber

Vancouver

Nov 1, 2012 - 03:34pm PT

Malcolm Lowry's great novel Under the Volcano takes place on the Day of the Dead.

dirt claud

Social climber

san diego,ca

Nov 1, 2012 - 03:46pm PT

Here is a pretty good link explaining the tradition.
http://www.inside-mexico.com/featuredead.htm

In little towns in Mexico people will actually go to the graves with a drink and talk to the deceased for a while and celebrate their life as if they were still alive and conversing with that person.
guess it just brings home the fact that our ancestors are not gone in the way we think of in normal western society.

splitter

Trad climber

Cali Hodad, surfing the galactic plane

Nov 1, 2012 - 04:11pm PT

If you could talk to the dead, and if they could listen and reply, who...

Well, my mother & father first come to mind, but, I have lost many very close friends over the years (both climber's, surfer's & kids i new since elementary school who died in Nam or on the mean streets, etc, shortly after graduating from HS). But, I would tell my mother and father something I had told them many times while they were here, that they were the best mother and father in the whole world and that I love and miss them very much!

I lost two of my best friends at 18 yrs old,. One, a black kid, got the sh#t kicked out of him by a racist white kid in PE/gym class. They both got booted out of school. He (Steve) had to walk home (3-4 mi). The next day in homeroom class, through the intercom, this message was announced, "We are sorry to inform you that Steven Knight died on his front porch yesterday waiting for his mother to return home from work. He died from "walking pneumonia"! Huh? Yea, right, "walking pneumonia"! Steve never got in fights, he didn't want to fight the guy and rebuffed him until the d00d said something derogatory about his mother. Steve was an only child of a single mother, didn't know his father. I played little league baseball & some pony & colt leaague ball with him. He was a star center fielder in HS with a college atheletic scholarship. I would prollie tell him that i will NEVER forget him!

Then there was Ronnie Conklin, who was another best friend in our small circle of friends. I had just spent the previous Sat/Sunday at his house (stayed the weekend). It was our first weekend after graduating from HS and we had our whole lives to look forward to. I got a phone call early monday morning, from another best & mutual friend, saying Ronnie had dropped dead at work the night before (shortly after I last saw him) from a heart aneurism/hole in his heart (or whatever). I would tell him that he was a good friend and that I miss him like a brother.

And there was my 16 y.o. cousin who rolled his pickup truck, one Saturday night returning home from the local dance, into the Margaree River in Cape Breton, NS one summer when I was a teenager and we were visiting. I saw him about everyday that summer. He had everything going for him. I could have easily been with him that night, but wasn't. I prollie would tell him that I wished I was there, maybe things would have turned out different. He was kin, special kin and a dear friend ... what would you tell him? I would tell him that i love him and miss him!

Then we lost another very good friend from HS, one day just a few years later, while surfing at our local surfbreak (Nubreak/Sunset Cliffs). Bruce "Cornie" Cornwall. Bleed out right there on the beach in front of us. I would tell him that the hundreds of days that I spent surfing with him were some of the very best days of my life and I will always remember them and him!

And then there was my brother-in-law who use to take me & my board surfing when I was a kid. Many of those times were between tours to Viet Nam (he did two tours of duty). He was a sargeant and I looked up to him. He married my sister when she was 15 & he was 17. She got preggie, and he did the right thing. Him & his brother & friend took somebodies car on a joy ride. Two door coup. He was the youngest (16/almost 17) and was just tagging along. He was in the back when they got pulled over and it took him longer to get out, so he got nabbed. Things were different, bitd, no simple slap on the wrist like this day and age. It was his first offense, but they gave him a choice of prison or Nam after he refused to give the names of the driver & his brother to the judge, so he took the latter (Viet Nam) when he turned 17. It was a death sentence! He left three kids and a beautiful wife (my sister). He was also a decorated war hero; a Silver Star, a bronze star & 3 purple hearts.

And then there's my other brother-in-law who died of cancer at 62. Died at home with my sister, his and my family and all his friends. I would like to thank him for all the good times and for challenging me, like the time he got me to climb up this 100 ft pine tree (to about 70ft off the deck) and top it. Days like that, crazy days that just happen to fall on a holliday (Christmass Eve) are special. We partied hard that night, he introduced me to the tequila (Mezcal) with the worm in the bottle (his favorite), it goes down smooth as silk, btw! He passed away before the next Christmas rolled around! He certainly wanted to live, we (my brother and i) took turns driving him to TJ to get coffe enemas, etc! Damn near lost his business (& my sisters business) financing all the "miracle" cures that he tried. But, we didn't have the heart to tell him it was hopeless. He was just to good of a guy and we all loved him to much. Thought and talked about it over and over, but we just couldn't bring ourselves to tell him it was hopeless.

There are many more, like climber's Dave Stutzman, Bobo, & Jack Dorn, Millis, etc! And, like I said, several friends that I new from elementary school thru HS that came back from Nam in a box! And uncles and aunts, grandparents, etc.!

Just "one person"? I don't even want to dwell on it, let alone have to make a decision who that one person would be. Thanks for asking though, it kinda got me to reflect, for just a moment, just how precious friends, family and life really is, eh?

edit" "possibly lame." NOPE! Not lame at all! Thanks fer posting!!

And if I could ask them a question, it would be prollie the same question to each one; "What do you wish I would have done, what could I have done or said?"

Wayno

Big Wall climber

Seattle, WA

Topic Author's Reply - Nov 2, 2012 - 01:03am PT

Nice post, splitter. I would also want to thank my parents for giving me the tools for living. The one person that I really want to ask a question would be my older brother. I want to know why he took his life. Other than that I could think of dozens of historical figures that I would ask how it really went down.