Missing Originally uploaded by gcquinn
The story of Geoff Quinn, whose father was crashed in the snow by an airplane accident, he at first survived, but then in the wilderness, starving, finding no way out and died – not without leaving behind a bottle-post for his son (if he was ever found) – that story made me very affected. How many stories about fathers, that I found in my Flickr pool: that of Rita Crane or by msmclean / Melanie. Of course I also had a father – and a few me very affecting “second” fathers (teachers, friends). And now 65 years old (both of my daughters have given to me one charming grandson), I come to think about my own role as a father. On my 65th birthday I got presented an interesting speech …
this is, what she said (part of a 20 minutes speech):
… You’re still not afraid of conflicts, you do not need any harmony. You’re always going your own way, doing your own thing and no one can confuse you (= the persistence of the philosophers)… These things that you excel, I would like to pass on to my son also: joy, curiosity, openness, creativity and courage, persistence always to go his own way!” etc. “
I must admit, this speech was very heart touching – and I really hope that I have transferred similar properties to my daughters (one is a banker, the other daughter, equally independent and headstrong, an architect). And if it is then even passed to a next generation: what can we expect more?
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for to translate the German part into English I’ve added an html-code:
translate German to English
Die Geschichte von Geoff Quinn, dessen Vater mit einem Klein-Flugzeug im Schnee abstürzte, überlebte, aber dann doch in der Wildnis verhungerte – nicht ohne eine Flaschen-Post für seinen Sohn zu hinterlassen, falls man ihn je fände – diese Geschichte hat mich sehr berührt. Wie viele Geschichten über Väter, die ich bei meinen Flickr-Freunden fand: die von Rita Crane oder die von msmclean / Melanie. Natürlich habe auch ich einen Vater gehabt – und ein paar mich sehr beeinflussende Ersatz-Väter. Und mittlerweile 65 Jahre alt, meine Töchter haben mir schon jeweils einen Enkel geschenkt, komme ich dazu, über meine eigene Rolle als Vater nachzudenken. Zu meinem 65. Geburtstag bekam ich eine interessante Rede vorgetragen …
“… Du bist weder harmoniebedürftig noch konfliktscheu. Du gehst immer deinen eigenen Weg, machst dein eigenes Ding und lässt dich nicht beirren (= die Beharrlichkeit der Philosophen). … Diese Dinge, die dich auszeichnen, möchte ich auch gerne an meinen Sohn weitergeben: Lebensfreude, Neugier, Offenheit, Kreativität und den Mut, mit Beharrlichkeit immer seinen eigenen Weg zu gehen! etc.”
Ich muss zugeben, diese Rede hat mich sehr berührt – und ich hoffe tatsächlich, dass ich ähnliche Eigenschaften an meine Töchter übertragen habe (eine ist Banker, eine andere, ebenso selbständig und eigenwillig, Architektin). Und wenn es dann sogar noch an eine folgende Generation weitergereicht wird: Was kann man mehr erhoffen?
Frizz — an important blog and I am honored that you have chosen to include my series about my father. I had much to think about this weekend on that subject as my 19-year old son and I took two days to ski together — me avoiding the giving of too much advice, he avoiding the giving of too much advice. We stayed in a funky old lodge – an old Pony Express station from the days of the wild west — and played much cribbage. For you see to do this with your own son is precious when you did not have your own father to do it with. And then to go on to New York as a family (with my wife) and to have my son excited about seeing plays with Vanessa Redgrave and James Earl Jones and to a wonderful New Years Party with interesting people — and to find him engaged with them — made me very happy. And I am sure you are having the same experiences to a new level as a grandfather (which I look forward to). Anyway, a wonderful blog.
As for the translation — it is very good, its awkwardness almost literary “not without leaving behind,”and the punctuation a little off, but an admirable result in light of the difficulties of translating the constructions of German, to their polar opposite: those of English!
Keep up the heroic work!
Your Geoff
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By the way, I will be interested to see how all of this translates as I have been writing in “email English,” with its illegal use of contractions and of prepositions (such as that one!) — forever starting a sentence with And, and ending with “to,” or “for,” or “of.” What is a translator to do!!
Geoff
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AAAAAAAAAAAAGH! I shall be intimidated to leave a comment with another commenter who knows not to end a sentence with a preposition. Something I always think of. Something, too, I look for. Gosh, my thoughts, where have they gone to?
::GULP::
OK, I shall forth I shall sally, regardless! (Geoff, should you read this, I am totally poking fun as grammar is something intriguing yet I feel like an antiquated old fart when I use it properly…because I have a bit of a goofy streak, when I start speaking or writing “all propah like” they think I’m being funny. When, in fact, I’m quite serious…).
OK, back to topic. Frizz, I love this post and thinking of fathers and how they impact us, whether present or disappeared. The story of Geoff’s father is heart-breaking for all the obvious reasons, but there are all of those sub-reasons as well…the future such a loss will shape, the definition of a wife made widow, the partial-orphaning of children. Thought-provoking. Thank you.
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Hi Frizz,
This is a great post and I think the new year is a wonderful time give fathers all the accolade try deserve. Your girls certainly admire you. This is a blessing. Well done and keep up the good work. Ciao, K.
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related:
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