The ray shines not so bright today; A valiant son must go away.
LIKE MOST?PEOPLE WITH?A?HEART, I was deeply moved by Prime Minister David Thompson’s October letter to his constituents of St John – tears welled actually. There was
a tone of hopefulness, yet that timbre of finality.
Everyone knew he wanted to be among his people again;
to laugh with them as he strolled the byways of Gall Hill, Society, Edgecliff et al. Mostly everyone by the time the St John MP had delivered his missive had known that being among them again would be no cakewalk. Even more of us dared to wish otherwise, and to believe it – like David himself.
In the letter to his constituents he had declared:
I yearn for a special opportunity in the not too distant future to be able to do it all over again. And, with your prayers and God’s help, I will.
How distant would that future be? How soon would it be from his bed of grave illness?
How much more committed could a parliamentary representative possibly be?
I expressed that and more in my email to him – my very last. Strangely and unacceptedly I knew it would be my last, but I preferred to repose in the bosom of denial. Journalists’ instincts are journalists’ instincts. They don’t have to be pleasant, accommodating or welcoming; but they can be denied and shunted aside. I know for a fact that journalists are human like anybody else.
Coupling the Prime Minister’s last address to the nation with that letter of stewardship, I was moved to write:
Prime Minister,
I wish each day that you had never had to experience so serious an illness, so challenging a torment. I so profoundly wish.
I’ll understand if you are unable to afford me the usually cordial and kind reply. It is good enough for me knowing I am offering you a word of consideration and consolation as best I can. And I’ll keep praying for you.
Ridley
Prognostication? I don’t know. What I do know is that he never replied; not for lapse in inclination; probably for lack of energy – and of time. He was spending what little he had left with his family – and in prayer to the end.
But there was a time when we were spiritedly hopeful – he and I.
Ridley,
I feel OK on most days, and when I feel bad, I feel bad! But the good days well outnumber the bad.
The mind can do great things. Dr Rudi Webster tells me this all the time. And many of the older doctors – frustrated by traditional stuff – are trying to document miracles of mind over matter!
I am shooting to be back on September 01, so we will see how things go.
David
We discussed the power of the mind at length. And when I felt certain he was sold on it, I gently introduced Dr Art Brownstein’s Extraordinary Healing – The Amazing Power Of Your Body’s Secret Healing System. Dr Brownstein’s simple message is: “Your healing system not only maintains your natural state of health, but when you are sick or injured, or whenever your health is threatened, it also is in charge of damage control.”
I had wanted to get the book to David ever since – from the very first time we were talking “getting better”.
Ridley,
I am feeling much better and the doctors are happy with progress. Might have to have a pretty serious operation, but that will come in time.
I am confident.
David
Many a patient of Dr Brownstein’s had obviated surgery said too be urgent by traditionalist doctors, or had turned back many a cancer by “letting the body heal itself”. It was like Rudi Webster had said.
So, you’ll understand the anger within me when I discovered I had missed a text David had sent – at a time when he was reading ravenously. It was during one of the earliest times he had spent in the New York hospital.
Hi Ridley,
I am doing quite well and am thankful. In the last week, I have read 17 books! When I arrived here, I had two.
Friends of mine started sending me books! So I have had a reflective and truly enjoyable break. Every day fedx brings a new package. Blessings abound!
Truthfully, I haven’t asked the “why me?” question a lot because God gave me everything I asked for otherwise – family, friends, success in my profession and politics, good health, opportunities, a good education, and the list is long!
So I have been passive, content and thankful. But I have asked God for more and I won’t stop until I’m healed!
All the best.
David
More he did not get. And God alone knows why.
Today David J.H. Thompson goes back to the dust from whence he came, as all mortal men must. But he leaves behind his luminance, attested to by the mighty and the low, the rich and the poor; I daresay, you and me!
