April Shuffle

 

What I’ve been watching: I went with a couple of friends (who once lived in Bhutan) to see the movie “The Monk And the Gun” which was part of a film festival last year. It is set in Bhutan, where the king is abdicating in favour of transitioning the country to democracy. The Bhutanese don’t know how to vote in an election, and so officials stage a mock election, while a visiting American is there to secure an antique gun. A monk is also out searching for two guns, an odd request by his lama, which he carries out unquestioningly but finds difficult in a country where guns are scarce. When the American and the monk cross paths, and the monk learns of the number of guns in the U.S., he exclaims, wide-eyed, “More guns than people?”

The film gently, subtly, and humourously displays the contrasts between the Western world (the drive for money, power, and more, more, more), the divisions and violence and greed it creates in western society against the contented, simple, polite Bhutanese. They cannot shout over each other in the mock election. They attach little importance to the accumulation of wealth -  the elderly owner of the antique gun tells the astounded American he is offering too much money.

The elections officials are keen to get the mock election right, with the eyes of the world on them. But when told people in other parts of the world fight for this democratic right to vote, one Bhutanese says, “But if we don’t have to fight for it, maybe we don’t need it.”  And when the official insists modernization will make them happier, one says, “But we were already happy.”

The desire to not be left behind can be strong and convincing and we often feel as if we must keep up. But does it always serve us?

 What I’ve been painting:

This rainy day scene. I seem to return to wanting to paint a rainy day, a lone woman with an umbrella, walking away from the viewer, towards something, purposeful in her stride. She knows where she is heading.

What I’ve been reading: YellowFace By RF Kuang

 

Whether you’re interested in the inner workings of the publishing world or not, whether you like unlikeable main characters or not, this book is one wild ride and I loved it.

 

Funny, satirical, mocking, there’s racism and reverse racism and reverse reverse racism. There’s appropriation and the underbelly, quiet desperation and cancel culture of social media. 

Junie is a main character we want to dislike (she’s a plagiarist, stealing from a dead friend) and yet we can’t be completely unsympathetic to her in her loneliness, self-absorption, and sad online trolling for approvals.

Grim and highly amusing.

 

What I’ve been celebrating: having an essay in this anthology collection THE GIFT OF A LONG LIFE, published by the Birren Center.

The Birren Center is a non-profit centre, committed to facilitating storytelling by older adults, and sharing and preserving life stories and experiences. It is worth checking out if you or anyone you know is keen on writing down their life stories. (Life story workshops are also offered to women by Ageless Possibilities).
 

My piece is essay # 42. (I wrote this a while back, not for this specific collection). A small step, but nonetheless worth celebrating.

 

What I’ve been wrestling with: A recent diagnosis of osteoporosis shocked me, although it shouldn’t have. I’ve been borderline osteopenia (with a few risk factors, being small-boned, petite, had radiation etc). But I’m active and for the most part, eat healthy and have been doing all the right things (morning kale smoothie, walking, tennis, pickleball, swimming, light weights). When I was in the doctor’s office, discussing the bone density scan results, he said, “No more sports, until you see the specialist and begin treatment.”

What?? I tried arguing with him, sports is my lifestyle, I could not give up tennis, and anyway it is a non-contact sport. But he was firm. Driving away from his office (and to my pickle-ball match that afternoon, which was already scheduled so of course I could not cancel it and let my partners down), I was upset. And later, when the news settled in, I pondered why I was so upset about this. Yes, osteoporosis is stealthy in women, not making itself known until a fracture or a broken bone. But what distressed me most was this forced adaptation of my lifestyle due to . . . an aging-related diagnosis. Yes, that was it. It was a sign I was aging. My bones were aging. And I had to accept this and adapt accordingly. And so I will (although I am not giving up altogether on the activities I enjoy).

It is a reminder though that we must pay closer attention to what approaches silently and affects us individually. We cannot adhere to favoured routines simply because that’s what we’ve always done. We (meaning I) need to be open to re-evaluating our choices, seeking alternatives. As in the movie, the need to keep up and not get left behind is tempting, but does it always serve us?

“We must cut our coat according to our cloth, and adapt ourselves to changing circumstances.” ―William Ralph Inge