oggbashan
Dying Truth seeker
- Joined
- Jul 3, 2002
- Posts
- 56,017
Today I went to a family funeral. Not my family, my wife's family.
The deceased , in his early 90s, was a very eminent man in his several careers, first as an oil company manager in the Middle East, in the RAF and Military Intelligence in WWII, as an oil company manager again, then two later careers successfully turning around failing public services (the poison chalice type of jobs that no one would take because failure is almost inevitable - he didn't fail).
However, there was only one relation almost of his generation there. All the others had died before him so very few of us could understand or relate to what he had done and the circumstances in which he had performed miracles for his country and his various employers. The acknowledgement of his achievements was in the word before and the letters after his name. Yet his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren barely knew what they meant. They were grieving for a lost parent, grandparent and great grandfather who had a sense of humour and a definite expectation that his descendents would achieve.
The RAF sent a contingent to honour him. The members of that contingent were the ages of his great-grandchildren. To them his RAF service was over long before their parents were born and therefore ancient history.
If Military Intelligence sent anyone they were incognito. The oil company sent one of the managers that he had trained. His other later employers also sent representatives. Who could they talk to about his work? His relations didn't understand because for much of his life he could NOT talk about what he had done. It was secret, and he was of a generation that believed that what was secret should stay that way because telling what was done by whom and why could jeopardise current affairs. If I am correct in the impression I gained from talking to the work colleagues, I suspect that his 'secrets' could still have repercussions on the UK's relationships with several countries in the Middle East.
As most family funerals are, it was a gathering of people who are unlikely to meet again until the next funeral or marriage. It was a happy affair because we were celebrating a family man who was a Christian with a firm belief. We were saying goodbye for a while.
However I was still sad. even as an outsider, that so few of his immediate family could appreciate his achievements. Only his contemporaries could do that - and they are already dead.
It is a sad thing to outlive your partner, your friends and your colleagues. You may still have your children, grandchildren and other younger friends but to whom to you say 'Do you remember?' With whom do you swap stories about your dangerous youth (and in his case middle age - he was caught up in the Six-Day War and had to get his employees out from between the armies)?
I wish I had known him better.
Og
The deceased , in his early 90s, was a very eminent man in his several careers, first as an oil company manager in the Middle East, in the RAF and Military Intelligence in WWII, as an oil company manager again, then two later careers successfully turning around failing public services (the poison chalice type of jobs that no one would take because failure is almost inevitable - he didn't fail).
However, there was only one relation almost of his generation there. All the others had died before him so very few of us could understand or relate to what he had done and the circumstances in which he had performed miracles for his country and his various employers. The acknowledgement of his achievements was in the word before and the letters after his name. Yet his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren barely knew what they meant. They were grieving for a lost parent, grandparent and great grandfather who had a sense of humour and a definite expectation that his descendents would achieve.
The RAF sent a contingent to honour him. The members of that contingent were the ages of his great-grandchildren. To them his RAF service was over long before their parents were born and therefore ancient history.
If Military Intelligence sent anyone they were incognito. The oil company sent one of the managers that he had trained. His other later employers also sent representatives. Who could they talk to about his work? His relations didn't understand because for much of his life he could NOT talk about what he had done. It was secret, and he was of a generation that believed that what was secret should stay that way because telling what was done by whom and why could jeopardise current affairs. If I am correct in the impression I gained from talking to the work colleagues, I suspect that his 'secrets' could still have repercussions on the UK's relationships with several countries in the Middle East.
As most family funerals are, it was a gathering of people who are unlikely to meet again until the next funeral or marriage. It was a happy affair because we were celebrating a family man who was a Christian with a firm belief. We were saying goodbye for a while.
However I was still sad. even as an outsider, that so few of his immediate family could appreciate his achievements. Only his contemporaries could do that - and they are already dead.
It is a sad thing to outlive your partner, your friends and your colleagues. You may still have your children, grandchildren and other younger friends but to whom to you say 'Do you remember?' With whom do you swap stories about your dangerous youth (and in his case middle age - he was caught up in the Six-Day War and had to get his employees out from between the armies)?
I wish I had known him better.
Og
