Writing about happiness by the toilet light

SternAAlbifrons · Post by **SternAAlbifrons** » Wed Jul 31, 2019 10:18 am

link below to some musings about handling life in Prey Sar, and life generally, by James Ricketson - wonderfully odd as always.

"One of the many lessons that I learnt in jail, apart from the fact that you can teach an old dog new tricks, is that you can adapt to almost anything. The only light that we had in the cell for 140 people was in the squat toilet."

Full report;
https://www.abc.net.au/news/health/2019 ... n/11348922

Cinnamoncat · Post by **Cinnamoncat** » Wed Jul 31, 2019 3:37 pm

Thanks for this. I also subscribe to "happiness" (shopworn, he calls this word, as I recall) as a choice.

From my book:

I wish I could say that living in Cambodia for years steeped me in a philosophy of annica, impermanence. Nothing lasts. Everything changes. I’ve seen so much death and loss nothing surprises me anymore.
This is closer to the truth: I chose happiness, and moved forward. Get busy living, or get busy dying. I chose life. It was hard work. I dealt with my grief through hard physical labor. I simply worked myself into the dirt.

I appreciate his toilet-light philosophy. The splash of urine, and the epiphany that it didn't matter.