Comments on: The heart of the matter

By: Jean

Jean — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 07:12:48 +0000

Yes Ellie… let’s make it a date okay? Plans for this year have had to be shelved but who knows what next year will bring.

Thanks for stopping by and for your lovely encouragement. It’s appreciated more than you know!

By: Ellie

Ellie — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 04:59:29 +0000

Hi Jean:

Wow you write so beautifully. You sure have been given a wonderful gift. I am sorry that we didn’t get together this summer. Maybe someday, ok?
Ellie

By: Garden Jools

Garden Jools — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 21:27:43 +0000

Well Jean..I can honestly suggest that YOU have left many marks on many lives!! And that is a job well done!
Yes..I have been busy, but am trying to pace myself as the old
“dicky leg” is playing up a treat, I am like the little red caboose at the moment – “I think I can, I think I can!!” I am so glad that I have time to do what needs to be done.

By: Jean

Jean — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 22:28:56 +0000

Thanks Jools… I know you must be really busy with your move… so very much appreciate your stopping by. When my youngest was fretting about exams in the final throws of Yr 12 I painted her a little picture (looking back now… it might have been a precursor to the current cartoons I guess) It showed a group of students arms slung around each other’s shoulders… and the caption read “Exams do not define you. In the end the only mark that really matters is the mark you leave behind. Do your best. Leave your mark.” I really do believe we can (and should) leave our mark. In whatever way we can. And hopefully someone somewhere will be more the better for it!

By: Garden Jools

Garden Jools — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 21:05:33 +0000

Hi Jean,
I can only echo what Andrew and John have said…what a beautiful piece you have just written and how very true! The strength of ones character can only be measured by the gifts they leave behind…the kindness, the thoughts that remain and the spirit that lives on. Its amazing what the human heart can achieve when projecting the generosity that comes from it. To be able to save a life..wether it be from raising your arm just a bit higher, giving when you can no longer help yourself or mending a broken body would have to be the ultimate gift.

By: Jean

Jean — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 21:24:10 +0000

Thanks John… amazing how far medicine has come isn’t it? Looking at this man now… it is difficult to grasp how ill he had been prior to receiving the new heart. His rebound to improved health has been nothing short of miraculous. I couldn’t help but wonder at the circumstances of this tragedy. What are the chances of a perfect match turning up right when it did… from so very far away? If I were Kostas I would be looking around my life to find the greater purpose… surely such a saving grace could not have been for nought! Life is a beautiful gift… how much more beautiful is that gift when it is bestowed one human being to another. It was a courageous decision for one so young.

By: John C

John C — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 23:40:46 +0000

Beautiful post, Jean. I think back to the day quite a few years ago in Johannesburg when I gazed at the hospital where the world’s first heart transplant occurred. I was looking at a bulding, stone and steel, and yet still the wonder of that great leap for mankind filled me as did the other one, years earlier, the one that happened on the moon.

By: Jean Burman

Jean Burman — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 21:31:06 +0000

Thanks AG… I hope your day is also nothing short of simply wonderful!

By: Andrew Griffiths

Andrew Griffiths — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 20:04:23 +0000

What a touching post Jean! I don’t know what else to say except thank you for writing something so loving, honest and open. Have a magnificent day with all that it brings to your world Jean.

Warmest,