#009
"You have to start over.
That's what they say. But life is not a board game, and losing a loved one is
never really starting over, more like continuing without."
- Mitch Albom, The First Phone
Call from Heaven
Everyday there’s the cycle of
life and death. A new baby is born daily, an addition to the booming number of
world population, yet there are those who’s about to take their last breath and
glimpse of life. Everyday there’s a mother being rushed to the hospital, about
to give birth and while the medical team is too busy in the delivery room there
is one person at the other end of the hospital trying to battle out the last
minute of his life that usually ends into a flat line. Deads. Patay. Goodbye. I
can still remember how I said "una-una lang yan" during a class
report for our Psychology class. Truth be told, death is an inevitable part of
life and age is never a question. As they say kung oras mo na, oras mo na. It
may sound that I'm taking death lightly but I sure am not.
Why most people are afraid to
die? Is it because you know you’re not that good of a human that St. Peter
might not find your name on his master list to the gates of heaven? Is it
because of the ghosts or other creepy stories you heard during the Halloween
season? How about life after death? There could be so many reasons why death
scares us but I think the only fear we have about death is being left behind or
leaving someone behind. Starting anew after losing someone is never easy so is
leaving when you are not ready.
It is somehow of a practice during a eulogy to
speak about how the departed has been a good person despite their flaws, share
every remarkable memory, tell each word we failed to say or the love we weren’t
able to express. That’s how it is. But why do these if that person can’t
actually hear any of it anymore? Is it just to show last respect or just so
people could remember them in a good way? I think, aside from respect and
remembrance, eulogies could be a way of acceptance about someone’s
departure. Remember when The Fault in our Stars’ Augustus Waters asked
his special friend Hazel Grace and best friend Isaac to do a eulogy for him? Or
that moment when a Rabbi asked Mitch to do his eulogy in the book “Have a
Little Faith”? Both characters are still alive when they asked for their
eulogy, maybe, just so they can hear what people have to say when they are gone
or to somewhat prepare their loved ones to accept that sooner or later they
have to continue life without them.
A world full of uncertainties,
that’s where we live in. You surely know when your life started but not when it
will end. I've been to wakes and funerals before, from a relative, to a
neighbor, family friend, distant relative, up to the people I never met but is
related to someone I know. Sadness is really evident in the atmosphere and during
those times I just can’t help but think what if someone close to me reached
their endpoint or how about if I die? *knocks on wood* Just the thought of it
saddens me already. Life will never be the same and you just have to deal with
the loneliness every time you remember them.
Make the best out of your
time, so when the last minute of your clock ticks there’ll be no regrets of
what you should’ve done. Life continues for both the departed and the ones left
behind. Be here or in another life, at least you may say that you lived a good
life.
©area2016
01-12-2016
