Peregrinate...

Sometimes the keeda in my head is a word. This morning at the Toastmasters meeting that I attended, the word of the day was peregrinate. It won’t leave my head, has been playing on loop like a broken vinyl and not like it’s the first time I heard it.

My earliest memory of the word is Robert Kincaid saying “I am the highway and the peregrine and all the sails that ever went to sea” to Francesca Johnson during one of their deliciously long sessions, described thus: “The leopard swept over her, again and again and yet again, like a long prairie wind, and rolling beneath him, she rode on that wind like some temple virgin towards the sweet, compliant fires marking the soft curve of oblivion”.

Leopard didn’t stay but peregrine falcon did and is back with a vengeance today. The word "peregrine" means "wanderer" or "pilgrim”. This post is a meandering into my rabid mind, why does this appeal so much to me! After all peregrine, aubergine sound almost alike and the poor vegetable doesn’t beleaguer the duffer head, like ever. Ok so it’s not the consonance.

It is the visions that the word conjures, of the majestic hunter that the falcon is soaring above the skies, free and powerful. A terrible attempt at Freudian interpretation here, if indeed he had to, I’m sure he’d find a phallic association, kinky fart that he was.

The Peregrine Falcon is a very fast flier, and may reach speeds of 320 km/h (200 mph) as it drops toward its prey.

I like that. It’s fast and furious, businesslike, calculating and precise. But this ain’t it.

What appeals most is not the bird or the word but how it was used by Robert Kincaid to describe himself, offering it almost like an apology to Francesca and telling her that he was here, now and will be gone the next. For those of you who have read the Bridges of Madison County know that this was the greatest fallacy of the book.

He writes her a letter years later which reads thus: “I live with dust on my heart. That's about as well as I can put it. There were women before you, a few, but none after. I made no conscious pledge to celibacy; I'm just not interested.

I once watched a Canada goose whose mate had been shot by hunters. They mate for life, you know. The gander circled the pond for days, and more days after that. When I last saw him, he was swimming alone through the wild rice, still looking. I suppose that analogy is a little too obvious for literary tastes, but it's pretty much the way I feel.”

Technically I should now hook up on Canada geese after the bloody leopard and the falcon but no… peregrine stays and soars.

Maybe it echoes the wanderlust in my soul that although builds nests, seeks to peregrinate… all the time!

Ennui…Envy?

French word, pronounced ‘on we’ means boredom and lethargy.

Pretty close to the English envy methinks, not just in the pronunciation but also in the individual meaning. Idle mind being the devils workshop is such an oft repeated adage that it loses its pallor due to overuse.

Yet, isn’t it the vacuous mind that meanders aimlessly seeking a plausible excuse, so what if it’s a dull one, latches on like a cootie close to the booty on that something that the other possesses.  

Oh and both ennui and envy are one of the seven cardinal sins, which I think is a bit much. C’mon if anything, jealousy should wear that badge, not poor envy.

The difference between envy and jealousy are complicated but not. Envy is the feeling one has when they do not, but want to possess an attribute that another has. It is also called a two person situation, plain vanilla. Jealousy on the other hand is something that occurs when a third person threatens what we possess. Also called a three person situation, ménage à trois.

Capiche?  Not as simple since we use the two words often interchangeably. If asked to narrate an instance where one felt this not very laudable emotion, how would you answer. Once you have answered, lets dissect it. 

So was it something someone has that you wish is yours or does something you wish you could, then that’s envy. Was it when someone you believe is yours and they develop a yen for someone else and that gives you gut burn, now that’s jealousy.

Is it completely wrong then and should one suffer pangs of guilt for indulging in either. I’ve seen how envy at times has spurred an individual to achieve a goal and jealousy allowing someone to morph into achieving more.

A lotus arises from the mud after all. Why not a positive outcome from a negative emotion. As always balance, balance and balance is the mantra. Ennui though needs a kick on the butt and indulge if you may… for a brief bit and then give it the boot.

Oui...