Weather Vane

Weather Vane ©

By

Michael Casey

Now, Storm Dennis has been a Menace, just like the kids cartoon of the same name, our 2^nd storm in as many weeks. So after I ventured out past the barricades, Virgin Media are digging up the pavement outside, I sit here and think what shall I write about, sorry talk about, today. Then Weather Vane comes to mind, though I may not actually talk about the weather, I’ll leave that to pundits, I hope I’ll write something more interesting and better, though you’ll be the judge, as ever. So Settle Down Now, as an old comedian used to say, as Eric Clapton sings for me as I talk to you. Clapton lounge singer, though I did meet him once, but I’ll save that story.

Clapton is drowning in a river of tears. We all can when events overwhelm you, when bureaucrats put paper before people, you’ve all had your own battles, but what I want to talk about today is how do you overcome them. Events blow, and we are that battered Weather Vane on the roof, we spin and shake and may almost be blown away from our place on the roof, on the committee, in the family, at work or anywhere, or even amongst safe old fashioned church politics.

So how do we survive, we may pray, pray like crazy, or just have a good old session with the local ride, in all senses of the word. Or we visit Nice Nelly, who is such a good listener, she is blind but she can see far better than authority. She is also very very fat, and her dog Dougal too. How do you reward a blind lady? You give her food, the very best of food, and even arrange for a sighted cleaner to come twice a week. Nelly listens, she does not miss a heart beat, her sightless eyes, and wonderful ears, as good as any dogs, listen and dissect. She’ll solve your problem, she is patient and kind, and has all the time in the world. She used to be a Litigator in another life but a random act of violence took her sight away. But now though sightless she feels God has given her the chance to do something useful with her life. She is a listener, and thanks God for the opportunity to be of use to the world. Before she used to extract blood from a stone, for profit. But now she extracts Love, Hope and Charity, and spreads it all around. She is better than any therapist.

We all have such a person somewhere in our lives, it may be a friend, a relative, or a random stranger on a bus, paths cross and wisdom is revealed, and you never meet that stranger again. Was it an Angel, an angel with a dirty face, a smelly fat silver haired man in shades on the bus to Birmingham? Was it the man or young girl you thought would rob you in the dark. But a big smile shone out of the darkness, in every sense of the word and saved you, saved you from stepping into a giant puddle, and saved you from your dilemma.

Life blows us, sometimes there is a gentle breeze on our face on a summer day, sometimes there is blinding freezing hail cutting our face as we walk uphill home from work. The weather vane spins, but with hope, friends and love we get back to our True North. So what I’m trying to say is that, you’ll be swamped and even almost Water Boarded by Life, but you can and will survive. You don’t have to be a Hero or Legend, two very over used and over rated words, no you just soldier on quietly. Dig out your own Nice Nelly, and cherish her and her dog. Simple unassuming ordinary or even boring people are the extraordinary people in this life, and I’ve been very lucky indeed to meet some in my life.

Let the wind blow, but know this my mother used to Bless the Wind and tell it to be calm. Just as some other guy you may have heard of used to do when he was out fishing with his mates. The storm may batter the weather vane, but there is only one way up.