Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep

 

He was a little boy at the time the "Great War", who then lived through the miseries of the Treaty of Versailles as a teenager; whose promising career as a "Volkswirt" was cut short by the next war, from which he then came back as a physically disabled and emotionally dead man.

This man was my father who was born on the 9th of December 1907 and who died on this day in 1984. I attended the funeral of this man whom I only ever knew as an emotionally dead man who never showed any sign of affection towards me. Once a year I would run home from school, excited to show him my top marks, and was met with his blank stare.

I built myself a new life in Australia, after which I revisited home and was greeted with an indifference as if I'd just been down to the corner store to buy him the one bottle of beer he held on to for the whole day as he sat, always in his dressing gown, by the window and unseeingly watched the world pass him by. He was the stranger that was my father.

I lived and worked in Athens in Greece in 1983 and flew to Germany to sit with him for a week but he no longer recognised me. I flew back a few months later to attend the funeral but I couldn't weep. I was as emotionally dead as he had been, and yet, as his coffin slowly moved towards the curtain, I shuddered with defiant disbelief that this was the end of his long and painful life.

Even if we understand that dying is but a token of our existential luckiness, even if we understand that we are borrowed stardust, bound to be returned to the universe that made it — a universe itself slouching toward nothingness as its stars are slowly burning out their energy to leave a cold austere darkness of pure spacetime - that we are "3,147,740,103,497,276,498,750,208,327 atoms, and consist of 63.7 percent oxygen, 21.0 percent carbon, 10.1 percent hydrogen, 2.6 percent nitrogen, 1.4 percent calcium, 1.1 percent phosphorous, plus a smattering of the ninety-odd other chemical elements created in stars", it is still hard to understand that in our cremation, "water evaporates; carbon and nitrogen combine with oxygen to make gaseous carbon dioxide and nitrogen dioxide, which floats skyward and mingles with the air, and most of our calcium and phosphorous bakes into a reddish brown residue which scatters in soil and in wind." ["Mr g" by Alan Lightman]

As Alan Lightman continues to write: "Released from their temporary confinement, the atoms slowly spread out and diffuse through the atmosphere. In sixty days' time, they could be found in every handful of air on the planet. In one hundred days, some of the atoms, the vaporous water, had condensed into liquid and returned to the surface as rain, to be drunk and ingested by animals and plants. Some of the atoms were absorbed by light-utilising organisms and transformed into tissues and tubules and leaves. Some were breathed in by oxygen creatures, incorporated into organs and bone.

Pregnant women ate animals and plants made of the atoms. A year later, babies contained some of the atoms... Several years after the death, millions of children contained some of the atoms. And their children would contain some of the atoms as well. Their minds contained part of the mind.

Will these millions of children, for generations upon future generations, know that some of their atoms cycled through this person? It is not likely. Will they feel what that person felt, will their memories have flickering strokes of that person's memories? No, it is not possible. But it will let them have their own brief glimpse of the Void, just at the moment as they pass from living to dead, from animate to inanimate, from consciousness to that which has no consciousness. For a moment, they will understand infinity.

And the individual atoms, cycled through the body and then cycled through wind and water and soil, cycled through generations and generations of living creatures and minds, will repeat and connect and make a whole out of parts. Although without memory, they make a memory. Although impermanent, they make a permanence. Although scattered, they make a totality."

Animated by electrical impulses and temporal interactions of matter, our finite minds cannot grasp any of this. Perhaps this poem helps:

 

VATI born 9.12.1907 - died 31.1.1984     Do not stand at my grave and weep, I am not there, I do not sleep. I am in a thousand winds that blow, I am the softly falling snow. I am the gentle showers of rain, I am the fields of ripening grain. I am in the morning hush, I am in the graceful rush Of beautiful birds in circling flight, I am the starshine of the night. I am in the flowers that bloom, I am in a quiet room. I am in the birds that sing, I am in each lovely thing. Do not stand at my grave and cry, I am not there. I did not die.

 

 

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Tulips From Amsterdam

Tulips From Amsterdam

 

In the 1630s, visitors to the Netherlands couldn't help but notice thousands of normally sober, hardworking Dutch citizens caught up in an extraordinary frenzy of buying and selling.

The object of all this speculation was the tulip, a delicate and exotic Eastern import that had bewitched horticulturists, noblemen, and tavern owners alike. For almost a year rare bulbs changed hands for ever-increasing sums, until single flowers were being sold for more than the cost of a house. Historians would call it tulipomania - the first futures market in history, and one that crashed spectacularly.

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Warren's bit and my bit on bitcoin

Warren Buffet mentions the Tulip Mania. If you have not heard of it, read about it here

 

Not so long ago a merchant found a lot of monkeys that lived near a certain village. One day he came to the village saying he wanted to buy these monkeys. He announced that he would buy the monkeys at $100 each.

The villagers thought that this man must be crazy. How can somebody buy stray monkeys at $100 each? Still, some people caught some monkeys and gave it to this merchant and he gave $100 for each monkey. This news spread like wildfire and people caught monkeys and sold them to the merchant.

After a few days, the merchant announced that he will buy monkeys at $200 each. Even the lazy villagers now ran around to catch the remaining monkeys. They sold them at $200 each.

The merchant then announced that he will buy monkeys for $500 each. The villagers start to lose sleep. They caught six or seven more monkeys, which was all that was left and got $500 each.

Then the merchant announced that he is going on holiday for a week, but when he returns, he will buy monkeys at $1,000 each. He said that his employee will be left in charge, and would take care of the monkeys he bought pending his return. And the merchant went on holiday.

The villagers were frantic and very sad as there were no more monkeys left for them to sell at $1,000 each as was promised by the merchant.

Then the merchant’s employee contacted them and told them that he would secretly sell them some monkeys at $700 each. The news spread like wildfire. As the merchant promised on his return that he would buy monkeys at $1,000, they would make a $300 profit on each monkey.

The next day the villagers queued up near the monkey cage. The employee sold all the monkeys at $700 each. The rich bought monkeys in large lots. The poor borrowed money from money lenders and bought the rest of the monkeys. Then they waited for the merchant to return.

He never returned. They tried to find the employee. He had left too.

The villagers then realised that they have been duped into buying useless monkeys at $700 each, and were now unable to sell them.

Which all sounds very much like Bitcoin. If the price goes up what can you do with Bitcoins other than sell them to someone else who thinks they will go up in price even more? And what can you do with Bitcoins when they fall in value? NOTHING!

I don’t know, but just like the villagers trading monkeys, Bitcoin will bankrupt a lot of people and make a few people filthy rich.

Maybe it should've been called Money Business right from the start.

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Now is the time to hold BHP shares, and now is the time to read this book

For a preview of this book, click here

 

As one of the largest and oldest listed mining companies in the world, BHP Group is probably well known to most Australians, indeed many would hold an interest in the company's shares via their investments or superannuation.

Formerly known as 'the Big Australian', BHP's origins date back to 1885 where it began life as the Broken Hill Proprietary Company, a silver and lead miner at Broken Hill in western New South Wales.

Over its lifetime it has undergone a number of name changes, mergers and demergers to become BHP today, a global miner operating in multiple locations across the globe and producing a variety of key commodities such as iron ore, copper, nickel, coal and oil.

Further change is afoot with a number of recent proposals announced by the company and approved by shareholders, to simplify its structure and focus its portfolio on future-facing commodities that help both global growth and decarbonisation. These changes can be summarised as follows:

• The unification of BHPs corporate structure to a single listing in Australia. Currently BHP is dual listed in the UK and Australia due to its merger with UK-listed Billiton mining company in 2001.
• A demerger of BHP's petroleum business which will be merged with Woodside Petroleum to create one of the world's largest oil exploration and production companies.
• The sale and exit of its thermal coal assets (the type used to generate electricity) to leave only metallurgical coal assets (the type used to produce steel).
• Further investments in potash, used to produce fertiliser for food production and Nickel, earmarked by the company as a core decarbonising commodity.

Following these changes, BHP will become a resources company focused on supporting global growth and decarbonisation. BHP's iron ore business and its high-quality metallurgical coal assets will contribute the majority of revenue, approximately 70%, which will contribute vital inputs for the steelmaking industry, a key component for infrastructure and urbanisation.

The growing global demand for food will be supported by BHP's investment in potash, used for fertiliser, to provide a future revenue stream for the company. Finally, the remainder of the portfolio, approximately 30% of revenue, will be made up of copper and nickel both of which are key commodities in the global decarbonisation pathway.

BHP is currently yielding 8.7% net and 12.4% when grossed up for franking credits based on dividends, which are expected to be paid in March and September.

This high dividend yield is a function of recently improved profitability due to the high prices received for its iron ore production. Profits doubled in 2021 and BHP currently pay 70% of this profit out as dividends to shareholders.

 

Trading Central has detected a "Momentum" chart pattern formed on BHP Group Ltd.
This bullish signal indicates that the stock price may rise from the close of 46.92.

 

Profits are expected to remain at these levels into financial year 2022, with future growth coming from investments in potash and an expected uptick in demand for copper and nickel as the transition to Net Zero gains momentum.

BHP has a solid balance sheet and strong cashflow generation, which is supported by a favourable pricing environment for its key commodities, albeit a potentially volatile one.

The proceeds from the asset sales to Woodside will be distributed as an in specie fully franked dividend. This is especially attractive to non-tax paying investors such as retirees, who will fully benefit from the franking credits.

There is also the possibility of increased dividend payouts in the future as the business requires less capital for the petroleum business. This could also mean an increased potential for capital management initiatives such as share buybacks, which are also particularly attractive to low-tax paying shareholders.

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All is well

 

According to most studies, people’s number one fear is public speaking. Number two is death. I even asked my friend Ian if he wanted to switch places with me, but he didn’t answer.

 

 

So I just stood there, dumbfounded that this was the last time I was going to be in his presence. I could only guess what he might've said:

"Death is nothing at all. It does not count. I have only slipped away into the next room. Nothing has happened. Everything remains exactly as it was. I am I, and you are you, and the old life that we lived is untouched, unchanged. Whatever we were to each other, that we are still. Call me by the old familiar name. Speak of me in the easy way which you always used. Put no difference into your tone. Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow. Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes that we enjoyed together. Play, smile, think of me, pray for me. Let my name be ever the household word that it always was. Let it be spoken without an effort, without the ghost of a shadow upon it. Life means all that it ever meant. It is the same as it ever was. There is absolute and unbroken continuity. What is this death but a negligible accident? Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight? I am but waiting for you, for an interval, somewhere very near, just round the corner. All is well."

 

 

Yes, Ian, all is well. Nothing is hurt; nothing is lost. One brief moment and all will be as it was before. How we shall laugh at the trouble of parting when we meet again! In the meantime, rest in peace, my friend!

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8:29 Friday, 28 January

Click on image to enlarge

 

This morning, as I turned on my computer, I was greeted by this screensaver. "How beautiful", I thought to myself, "Wouldn't it be nice to wake up to something like this every morning!"

Then I looked up and out the window towards the river, and I saw something just like it, except with a few more gumtrees. Yes, it is beautiful, and I do wake up to something like this every morning!

What a positive note to start the day on! (Winston Churchill, who knew his way around a sentence, said that not to end it with a preposition was the kind of nonsense up with which he would not put. So if anyone says you can't end a sentence with a preposition, tell them to off piss.)

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No walk through the village of Nelligen today ...

 

Instead, I took a mental walk through Tegehe, my favourite village in Bali, in the foothills south of Lovina. The actual walk took place in 2011; all good memories! I hope it brings a smile to your face.

 

"Potong" means "cut" and "rambut" means "hair"; my favourite barber when in Bali

We say "Selamat Tinggal" to Banjar Hills and Tegehe

 

If you ever visit Tegehe yourself, you may see these photos again as I gave each one a copy as a keepsake. Tell them Pak Peter send you!

"The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page."

 

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