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[Mystic]

As a 15 year old I had been forced out fo school due to family poverty and a general lack of appreciation for education by my mother who wanted me to go to work in factories and such like, believing that was all our kind of people could ever hope for. Personally I wanted nothing more than to learn about everything, to answer the great questions of life, and to seek greater forms of knowledge.

Being forced to leave school the very day I turned 15 I felt that the dreams I had held since a very young age, to go to university, to learn, to explore, to understand... those were shattered. Dreams can be strange things though, and it was through a dream that I came to locate a person who would become a great teacher and mentor to me. Someone who would help me discover knowledge of things I had never dreamed existed.

Barry Salkilld was a very learned man, holding numerous university degrees, across a diverse range of fields. He helped me to explore philosophy, mathematics, physics, chemistry, astronomy, and he introduced me to the great religious and holy books of the world. Through his guidance I studied the classics and classical languages such as Hebrew, Greek, and Latin.

Barry gave me one excellent piece of advice, in those early days,... he suggested that I should listen intently to all ideas, but that I should never accept or reject anything on face value. All things should be placed upon a mental washing line, as it were, held in storage until they could be proven as fact, or disproven and rejected. Such advice allowed me to develop an approach to life and earning that would allow me to experience a great many things, and to gain a degree of wisdom perhaps.

Because of the education I received under his direction I was eventually able to excel at university, and to follow pathways that would never have been open to a factory worker. I have held many positions of power, trust, and respect throughout numerous situations, and have enjoyed a richness and diversity of life that simply would never have existed had I not had the benefit of a great teacher and mentor such as Barry.

My friendship with Barry continued, and our last contact was as recent as last year. I had always valued his knowledge and capacity for logic and reason. These were gifts that he shared openly with me, and for which I will always be grateful.

In the early hours of this morning I learned that Barry had passed away a few months ago. There is currently a deep hole within me that is filled with sadness, but also a joy at knowing that I have enjoyed those gifts that seemed far more valuable than the largest and most rare diamonds imaginable.

Thank you Mr Barry Salkilld, I can only hope that your passing has been the same as the remainder of your life, an adventure that has taken you to greater heights of knowledge and learning. There are so very few people in this world who have the capacities that you had, and that you shared with me.

Rest well my dear friend, mentor, teacher, and in oh so many ways, my father.

[rehab is for quitters]

I knew a mate that sounds very similar to this dude. He too use to teach me things and that and some things i'll prolly never remember but some things i'll never forget.
I remember us once sitting on a car bonnet by the airport and talking about where the universe ends and that, and i said that is prolly a brickwall or something and he said.... yeah, but whats on the other side of that? "umm, another wall" i'd say, lol.. "but what's on the other side of that?" he'd go. and so it continued. hahaha, we'd laughed for hours over that one! lol. i don't think i've ever connected like that to another guy.
He died this one time and that was a real bummer as well.
I reckon peeps come into your life for a reason and then they go ... but rememeber this Anna..
Yesterdays is past, tomorrow will come and todays the present...that's why you've got to think of it as a gift (present) . My mate didn't say that but i think his missus had it somewhere on the comp.Anyway.. i just wanted to say that you're not alone

[Mystic]

Thanks Geoff. After almost 35 years I certainly see his input into my life as a gift.

He may be gone now, but it is a fact of life that people have a tendency to die at some stage, and after 83 years of living, he has earned his rest.