Fragile

Natasha Richardson and her mother Vanessa Redgrave

Watching the Six Nations rugby this weekend (the Ireland victory sporting theatre at its best) I couldn’t help seeing the incidents when players’ heads hit the ground (that happened in both the England and Ireland matches, with stretchers sent into action) in a new light, with a frisson emanating from our fragility. Our fragility as spotlighted by the genuinely sad news of Natasha Richardson’s accident and her rapid decline over just half a week.

I only encountered Natasha once, at a recent party of the old friend of mine who I met my wife through. The party was appropriately theatrical, with the historical venue done out like Mandalay (complete with Mrs Danvers), and Natasha appeared in a glittery outfit fitting the surroundings and her star quality. She looked fabulous.

Her poor husband Liam Neeson I’ve also only met once. It was in sad circumstances too. It was at the memorial for another old friend, actor John Keegan, at the Tricycle Theatre, Kilburn. I was introduced to Liam by Adie Dunbar. We had a ridiculous conversation about Dundalk and I found myself talking about the Four Lanterns take-away when what I actually wanted to say was “Liam, I think you did a cracking job with Oskar Schindler.” (It was the reverse of an encounter I had with Ralph Fiennes in the bar at the Almeida where I had the opportunity to say “Ralph/Rafe/whatever you call yourself, I think you did a cracking job with Amon Goeth” – and did.)

What can you take from a tragedy like this? To enjoy each and every day. To cherish the simple pleasures. To be conscious of everything you have, every privilege and happiness.

Watching the first episode of the new series of The Secret Millionaire last night, featuring ex-Rover boss Kevin Morley, you couldn’t help but detect that Kevin’s journey into the dark heart of Hackney has brought him back in touch with what really matters – he came to recognise the true value of his home and family, clearly regretting that his children’s growing up had passed him by while he was in the office. The one thing that seemed to escape him was that things like his collection of sports cars, which he showed off at the beginning of the programme with reference to shiny little models in a cabinet, come at a cost – beyond the readies he shelled out. Someone, somewhere pays for it ultimately. It could be a homeless person in Hackney. Or a starving family in southern Africa. Someone, somewhere always pays.

As Liam Neeson wakes his beloved wife and comforts their children none of the Hollywood glitz adds up to much. As my Irish mother-in-law always says (not a million miles from Liam’s home town of Ballymena): your health’s your wealth. Gandhi, much though I admire him, was more long-winded than Mrs Murphy: “It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver.”

This morning I was involved in launching the government’s new White Paper on informal adult learning (doing a case study around Picture This and illustrating how Channel 4 brings motivation, purpose and inspiration to networked media), so with both learning and fragility in mind another Gandhi quote rounds things off: “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”

Update 30.iii.09:

Bumped into Adie Dunbar at The Pigalle Club watching an intimate performance by Sinead O’Connor. Adie hails from Enniskillen, not a milion miles from Ballymena, and knows fellow thesps Liam and Natasha well. He underlined the great tragedy here by describing the powerful, positive energy the pair of them radiated together. In the words of the great Matt Johnson: “Love is Stronger than Death.”

In our lives we hunger for those we cannot touch.
All the thoughts unuttered and all the feelings unexpressed
Play upon our hearts like the mist upon our breath.
But, awoken by grief, our spirits speak
How could you believe that the life within the seed
That grew arms that reached
And a heart that beat
And lips that smiled
And eyes that cried
Could ever die?

TLC of TLAs

TLC on the South Bank of the Thames

Just a reminder : I’m still collecting Three Letter Acronyms aka TLAs

and it’s a richer world than you may think:

TLC = yes of course Tender Loving Care but also…

	Text Local Coordinates
	The Learning Channel
	Third Level Cache
	Tables & Ladders & Chairs (pro wrestling)
	TACOM (Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command) Learning Center [a marvelllous double acronym from the military-industrial complex]
	Tactical Landing Craft
	Tactical Leaders Course
	Tailored Logistics Corporation (US defense contractor specializing in the development of component overhaul kits)
	Targeted Learning Corporation
	Tastes Like Chicken
	Tasty Little Crackers (Kashi Company)
	Taxi & Limousine Commission (New York City)
	Teacher Leadership Council (Mormon Church)
	Teaching and Learning Centre (Australia)
	Teaching and Learning Committee
	Teaching/Learning Center
	Team Leadership Center
	Team Life Care Insurance Pvt Ltd (India)
	Tech Logic Corporation (library services company)
	Technology Learning Center
	Technology Life Careers
	Technology Life Cycle
	Teen Life Conference
	Telecommunication Line Controller
	Telecomunicazioni
	Telephone Line Control
	Time to Lane Crossing
	Tender Loving Cuisine (Five Dock, NSW, Australia)
	Tennessee Llama Community
	Term Loan C
	Ternary Linear Code
	Territory Logistics Center (FEMA)
	Test Loop Combination
	Texas Land & Cattle (restaurant)
	Texas Logistics Corporation
	Texas Lutheran College
	The Laser Center (laser vision correction)
	Tool Command Language
	Top Level Care
	The Latino Coalition (Washington, DC)
	The Laughing Classroom (book)
	The Leadership Center
	The Leaky Cauldron (Harry Potter website)
	The Learning Collaborative (Columbia, South Carolina)
	The Learning Company
	Top Level Categories
	The Lego Company
	The Library Corporation
	The Lost Creatures (gaming clan)
	The Loveline Companion
	Therapeutic Lifestyle Change
	Thermochromic Liquid Crystal
	Thin Layer Chromatography
	Three Letter Code
	Thunderbird Language Center (Glendale, Arizona)
	Tiwi Land Council (statutory authority representing Aboriginal Owners of Tiwi Islands)
	Toastmasters Learning Center
	Tomatoes, Lettuce, and Cheese
	Top Line Creations (Utah)
	Total Lack of Consideration
	Total Lateral Clearance (highway capacity, civil engineering)
	Total Leucocyte Count
	Total Lines of Code
	Total Logistic Control
	Total Lung Capacity
	Total Lymphocyte Count
	Tough Logging Conditions (oil industry)
	Touro Law Center
	Toxic Links Coalition
	Toyota Land Cruiser
	Toys for Local Children (charity)
	Trac Lapping Club
	Trades and Labor Council of Western Australia
	Traffic Light Chart (integrated three-tiered reporting system/format)
	Traffic Load Control
	Trafikledningscentral
	Transformation Life Cycle
	Transformational Learning Connections
	Transformative Learning Centre (Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto)
	Transformer-rectifier Line Contactor
	Transgender Liberation and Care
	Transitional Learning Center
	Transitional Line Charge
	TransLogistique, Canada (Logistics and SCM training)
	Translunar Coast
	Transmission Line Coupler
	Transport Logical Connection (Ciena)
	Transport-, Informatik-, Logistik-Consulting GmbH
	Transportation & Logistics Council, Inc. (formerly Transportation Consumer Protection Council, TCPC)
	Transportation for Livable Communities
	Tratado de Libre Comercio
	Tri-Level Compression (ACS Communications)
	Trichotillomania Learning Center (Santa Cruz, CA)
	Trilateral Commission
	Trinity Lutheran College
	Triple-Lumen Catheter
	Tripp Lake Camp (Poland, Maine)
	Trivial Loot Code (Everquest game)
	Trotskyist League of Canada
	TrueLicense Library Collection
	Trunk Logic Circuit (Nortel)
	Truth in Labeling Campaign
	Tuckerton Lumber Company
	Tunable Laser Channel (Agilent)
	Two Letter Clan (gaming clan)
	Talbo Lago Carrossiers
	Total Linux Coverage
	So next time someone close to you asks for some TLC you know what to give them… (And if you know any good TLAs you know just what to give me)