A Glimpse of Eternal Snows: A Journey of Love and Loss in the Himalayas
Jane Wilson-Howarth
Top 10 Best Quotes
“The Chinese say that there is no scenery in your home town. They’re right. Being in another place heightens the senses, allows you to see more, enjoy more, take delight in small things; it makes life richer. You feel more alive, less cocooned.”
“In Nepal, the quality of conversation is much more important than accuracy of the content. Maybe we get overexcited about information in England?”
“Even doctors — or perhaps especially doctors — need to be touched by something personally to understand the suffering of others. We’ve been taught about the enormous power over life and death that is invested in us; we can be deluded into thinking we are almighty. Almost instinctively we view death, incurable disease and disability as challenging our power. We forget that this is all part of life. I guess that we have to defend ourselves against the human suffering that confronts us every day, otherwise we’d quickly go under. Medical jargon helps keep us remote, yet seeing colleagues suffer is hard. If we think too much, we realise that we – and our loved ones – are just as vulnerable as the rest of humanity.”
“GPs are almost the only doctors these days who understand all problems, can see the whole person…spend time with the dying…see things through to the end.”
“A Glimpse of Eternal Snows celebrates Nepali wildlife: a smooth grey boulder lifts its head to become a rhinoceros; a langur look-out hysterically grunts the alarm from the treetop as a tiger merges into the dappled scrub; and a menacing mantis makes her home in the makeshift bathroom and refuses to become a pet.”
“The few certainties in our existences are pain, death and bereavement.”
“Technology hasn't got all the answers, and sometimes - just sometimes - what is needed is spirituality, time and some good mountain air.”
“… everything was fresh, green and particularly beautiful. Afternoon light, filtering between remnants of monsoon clouds, picked out gullies and spot-lit patches of forest and scrub on the convoluted ridges of the rim of the Kathmandu Valley. Or, after a rainstorm, wisps of clouds clung to the trees as if scared to let go. Behind, himals peeked out shyly between the clouds.”
“I recognised just how different Alexander was from children raised in Britain. The most obvious distinctions were his maturity and broadness of view. He hadn't lost his innocence or childish ability to play, but he enjoyed conversations with adults, and he saw no problem in playing with any child of any age. He was wonderfully gentle with the little ones. He was never fazed by differences, and cultural diversity was of interest rather than a reason for prejudice, though, - like our Nepali friends - he liked to classify people.”
“a dementia sufferer effuses delight and notices very different things when taken out in her wheelchair. Such people can teach us to see again the little things that make a big difference. They can show us how to enjoy familiar environments with fresh new eyes.”
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Book Keywords:
conversation, life, pain, travel, seeing-anew, cultural-diversity, nepal, playing, death, doctors, ageism, ageist-society, seeing-things-in-a-different-way, expats, expatriate, inspiration, himalaya, cultural-differences, medical-jargon, healing, himalayas, spirituality, dying, bereavement, observation, expat-life, inspirational, seeing-the-world, growing-up, travel-writing, mountains
