Ain't No Word for Goodbye

Last night I sat down to watch t.v. just as the movie “Thunderheart” was coming to an end. I had seen this movie several years ago, so I knew what it was about. As I watched the final scenes, the last line spoken by the Sioux character was, “There ain’t no word in Soiux for Goodbye.”

I like that. I don’t like to say “Good-bye”. I wish the word didn’t exist in the English language, either. But then, what would we say?

How about “See you later.” “Godspeed.” “Take care.” “So long.” These are the ones that pop into my mind off the top of my head. I remember talking about saying a final goodbye when my mother was dying, and regretting that I hadn’t had a chance to say Goodbye when my dad died suddenly. But what if we didn’t have this word for expressing our feelings of impending separation? What would we say? Do we really need to say Goodbye?

Phil has a favorite saying, “There is no end without a beginning and there is no beginning without an end.” To me, the thought of Goodbye fits in with this philosophy in an odd sort of way. If we don’t have a word for Goodbye, then can we also eliminate Hello? Maybe we should think more in line with the Sioux, and also with the native Hawaiians. Am I wrong, or does “Aloha” mean both Hello and Goodbye?

Whenever we say Hello for the first time, aren’t we in essence saying Goodbye to something else, and vice versa? The same with Goodbye- one thing ends, another begins.

Let’s do away with “Goodbye.” I agree with the Sioux. We don’t need this word in our language.