SPEECH BY MIXAEL DE KOCK, 25 FEBRUARY 2011
Ladies and Gentleman; Friends and Family
Krynauw asked me - after his flesh-and-blood brother has spoken on behalf of the family this evening - to say a few words and propose the toast to his good health. And, I have to admit that secretly I am hugely flattered, for that means I am now publicly being acknowledged as his virtual brother!
At the same time it can be said that Krynauw is either very trusting or under the misguided impression that I am very discreet. Whichever, I am most honoured to be standing here next to him at this very special and elegant celebration tonight, calling on you to ponder with me a few ideas I had scribbled down this afternoon.
Despite mainstream financial analysts’ theory that gold has no growth prospects and no dividends, gold outperformed stocks over the past 50 years. As of the close yesterday (and actually before then), the 50 year returns for holding physical gold are much higher than the 50 year returns for the Dow Jones Industrial Average. This is not a joke and believe me, has serious implications for any investor that is actually trying also to turn a profit on friendships!
So, it would appear that it takes around 50 years for gold to prove its worth and, therefore, all 50th anniversaries - be these birthdays, weddings or the ascension to thrones - are called Golden Jubilees. Somehow 50 years is the period required for the full value of a person or an event or an object to become apparent and, therefore, it is a time for great celebration but, it is also a time to feel deep gratitude for the very value we are commemorating.
Now, in the year that I turned 50, I had to share my Golden Jubilee with that upstart Elizabeth of England – and, I must say, I was not amused. It is for that reason that today I checked the web and found that Krynauw is particularly blessed on the occasion of his Golden Jubilee in that he does not have to share his festivities with any other old Queen!
That, Krynauw, was the good news about your 50th birthday, the bad news is that, for all the advances in medicine, there is still no cure for the common birthday and they are going to recur with boring regularity for many many years to come. So, you might as well start enjoying every minute of every day – and especially now that you have become so rich in life’s experience and - as Oscar Wilde so aptly put it - no longer need to be led to temptation – seeing that you are quite capable of finding it yourself!
It is said that forty is the old age of youth; but I can assure you, that fifty is the youth of old age. And, while we can no longer make provision for a magnificent life and lofty dreams as we did when turning 21, 25 and 30, we are now perfectly positioned to ensure that the second half of our lives will be spectacular and also meaningful – and richly so right to the end.
Being 50 is all about positive thinking and, as we all know, while our friend Krynauw may engage us in an arguments about the existence of reality, the day the fan of life gets struck, he is the one with the real advice, the real support and the real love - and he takes care of each and every one of us in a very real and loving way.
Also, with all his training in Neuro-Linguistic Programming, his courses in Miracles and so many other of his philosophical pursuits, he, more than most of us, knows that age is strictly a case of mind over matter and has the unique ability to make it an insignificant part of his physical existence.
But Krynauw, from the mouth of your virtual older brother and, from one whom very well knows that age is a damn high price to pay for maturity, my immediate advice to you is the following: You may age chronologically from this point onwards but it is your first and foremost responsibility to all of us to stay immature indefinitely!
There is much that I would have liked to say about the subject of Krynauw: his loyalty, his honesty, his integrity, his transparency, his responsibility to his work, his devotion to his clients, his sincerity to his friends, his intense love and affection for his family and their children – I can go on for weeks about his ability to deliver the goods (and the good); his appreciation for all of the arts; his understanding and respect for the soul of all living things; his surprising depth when it comes to appreciating the aesthetic and his profound respect and sacred approach to space and design.
But, Krynauw asked me to speak for 60 seconds only and, my time is long up!
So, it is left for me to remind you that, of middle age, the best that can be said is that it is a time when, hopefully, we have:
• come to know how to have a little fun in spite of our troubles
• know that if we must choose between two evils to pick the one we has never tried before
• that while in some instances it might be sad to grow old, it is always real nice to experience the ripening process
• that it is better to wear out than to rust out
• and, if we should survive long enough, eventually we will become revered. And, as an architect Krynauw, you will understand the subtlety when I refer to the reverence we have for old buildings ………
Returning to the Golden Jubilee and what gold symbolizes in 50 years of our human experience:
• Gold is both the color and the object that symbolizes justice
• It also symbolizes power, strength, and perfection
• The ancients used gold to symbolize balance in all things, and, in the world of architecture this equilibrium in design is known as the "golden mean."
• Gold is associated with another mathematical principle applied in architecture – considered by some as the divine principles “Phi” which is also known as the golden ratio in architecture
• And, gold has always been regarded as a store of great value.
If we value others, we treat them “as gold”. At school we receive “gold stars” for excellent work. As grown-ups we receive "gold cards" for being valued customers and we award “Gold Cups” to winners. We value moments of peace by saying that "silence is golden." In Greek mythology, "the golden fleece" is the valued, sought-after goal. The list is endless.
It is said that forty is the old age of youth; but I can assure you, that fifty is the youth of old age. And, while we can no longer make provision for a magnificent life and lofty dreams as we did when turning 21, 25 and 30, we are now perfectly positioned to ensure that the second half of our lives will be spectacular and also meaningful – and richly so right to the end.
Being 50 is all about positive thinking and, as we all know, while our friend Krynauw may engage us in an arguments about the existence of reality, the day the fan of life gets struck, he is the one with the real advice, the real support and the real love - and he takes care of each and every one of us in a very real and loving way.
Also, with all his training in Neuro-Linguistic Programming, his courses in Miracles and so many other of his philosophical pursuits, he, more than most of us, knows that age is strictly a case of mind over matter and has the unique ability to make it an insignificant part of his physical existence.
But Krynauw, from the mouth of your virtual older brother and, from one whom very well knows that age is a damn high price to pay for maturity, my immediate advice to you is the following: You may age chronologically from this point onwards but it is your first and foremost responsibility to all of us to stay immature indefinitely!
There is much that I would have liked to say about the subject of Krynauw: his loyalty, his honesty, his integrity, his transparency, his responsibility to his work, his devotion to his clients, his sincerity to his friends, his intense love and affection for his family and their children – I can go on for weeks about his ability to deliver the goods (and the good); his appreciation for all of the arts; his understanding and respect for the soul of all living things; his surprising depth when it comes to appreciating the aesthetic and his profound respect and sacred approach to space and design.
But, Krynauw asked me to speak for 60 seconds only and, my time is long up!
So, it is left for me to remind you that, of middle age, the best that can be said is that it is a time when, hopefully, we have:
• come to know how to have a little fun in spite of our troubles
• know that if we must choose between two evils to pick the one we has never tried before
• that while in some instances it might be sad to grow old, it is always real nice to experience the ripening process
• that it is better to wear out than to rust out
• and, if we should survive long enough, eventually we will become revered. And, as an architect Krynauw, you will understand the subtlety when I refer to the reverence we have for old buildings ………
Returning to the Golden Jubilee and what gold symbolizes in 50 years of our human experience:
• Gold is both the color and the object that symbolizes justice
• It also symbolizes power, strength, and perfection
• The ancients used gold to symbolize balance in all things, and, in the world of architecture this equilibrium in design is known as the "golden mean."
• Gold is associated with another mathematical principle applied in architecture – considered by some as the divine principles “Phi” which is also known as the golden ratio in architecture
• And, gold has always been regarded as a store of great value.
If we value others, we treat them “as gold”. At school we receive “gold stars” for excellent work. As grown-ups we receive "gold cards" for being valued customers and we award “Gold Cups” to winners. We value moments of peace by saying that "silence is golden." In Greek mythology, "the golden fleece" is the valued, sought-after goal. The list is endless.
But the most significant part of the gold’s association with ageing is that it contains the word “O L D” which, in turn, is always associated with wisdom – and, the height of wisdom, in every culture and every civilization of this world we live in, is always referred to as "the golden age."
Thirty eight years ago, at my father’s 50th birthday party – a time when I was actively engaged in writing poetry! – I concluded the speech with these two lines from a work I had dedicated to him:
Die jare val soos blare:
Groen, goud, grys.
But, tonight is special and, therefore, I want to turn to the Shakespeare of Afrikaans to conclude with Van Wyk Louw’s magnificent words from his poem “Vroegherfs”:
Die jaar word ryp in goue akker blare
in wingerd wat verbruin, en witter lug
wat daglank van die nuwe wind en klare
son deurspoel word; elke blom word vrug,
tot self die traagstes; en die eerste blare val
so stilweg in die rook-vaal bos en laan
dat die takke van die lang popliere al
teen elke ligte môre witter staan.
O Heer, laat hierdie dae heilig word:
laat alles val wat pronk en sieraad was
Of enkel jeug en vér was van die pyn;
Laat ryp word Heer, laat U wind waai, laat stort
my waan, tot al die hoogheid eindelik vas
en nakend uit my teerder jeug verskyn.
Ladies and gentleman, friends and family, please charge your glasses, be upstanding and, along with me, drink a toast of good fortune to our son, our brother, our god-father, our teacher, our architect and, our most treasured friend - Krynauw Nel’s Golden Years. What a great investment he has been for us all!
Whatever with the past, it has gone,
now the best is to come!
Mixael de Kock
Johannesburg, 25th February 2011
