Life is a journey, and if you are reading this it means you are privileged to be breathing.
You are a thinking person in a star out of 140 billion stars, in one out of two trillion galaxies. Death is a certainty for all of us. From the 31st of October until the first Sunday of November, depending on traditions of different countries, people celebrate Halloween, All Hallows Day, All Saints Day, All Souls Day, and The Day of the Dead, among many others. The alive remember the ones who departed, and honor them with visits to cemeteries, or by placing candles, wreaths, pictures on their tombs, and special services to commemorate them.
In some places, they start celebrations at the beginning of October by decorating their houses with dark, scary decorations or just simply something fall-like or pumpkin themed. Some others with Latin heritage begin preparing the Day of the Dead altar with all the pictures of family members, friends, and public figures with their favorite foods, drinks, and things they liked. It is believed that souls come down on November 2 to rejoice. In Mexico, there is a tradition of honoring the ones alive with something called “Calaveras” which is a poem that brings a positive reaction to the person receiving it. The Oscar winning song “Remember Me” in the Disney/Pixar movie Coco confirms that we must remember someone, so they continue to live in the spiritual realm. If you think about it, if we talk of our ancestors, or people like Ibsen, Plato, and Adam Smith, they will remain alive in the collective present.
This festivity always reminds me of my grandfather. He said, “Please say to me things while I am alive, not when I am dead”. He said “En vida, en vida”, which means “In life, in life”. So that phrase stuck. Take the words from your mouth or express them in text. Tell someone something nice about them, about their work, about their personality, about what they transmit. It could be as simple as saying to your friend, “thanks for listening to me” or maybe to your grandma, “thanks for nice Christmas dinners” or to your roommate, “thanks for ….” or, “I like the way you …” just fill in the blanks. Words make an impact and have a ripple effect.
So due to this limited proposal of time in life, what will you do with your limited time in life? Who are you? What is your purpose? How will people remember you? What is the meaning of life? These questions have always played a role in people’s lives, and may not be too easy to answer, but we have to contemplate if we are taking steps towards living a life in which we love and value ourselves, and love and care for others. You must open yourself up to learning more about emotional intelligence. In this time, I have found out that the meaning of life is getting to be more you, and doing the things you enjoy, serving, and spreading love and hope. I learned the hard way last year, with the passing of my cousin who was more like a sister to me. When I stayed with so many words in April that I visited her and said I would wait until her birthday in May . She did not make it. So that is why I am now a promoter of remembering the ones that have left but also expressing yourselves to the ones that are still here. I wrote this poem, and modified it, for someone who made it easier for many people to understand some difficult ideas and when the task was finished, I was grateful. This happens with the living or dead. In this train of life, we are just here for a while. Death can be anything from the conclusion of a class, the end of a job, moving to a new city or country, to the death of your old self to become a new version of yourself, or the death of family loyalties, or unhealthy relationships. The end of a cycle and the beginning of a new one, and the end of a transformation that will lead to a new beginning.
Absence, Presence
Death is no absence,
Yet a living presence,
If you remember,
They live forever.
If you happen to give way,
they will slowly fade away,
leaving some space,
for the new to emerge.
The immaterial exists,
the experience persists,
There is no space and time,
It is all in our minds.
It is not what we can see,
All is a possibility.
This poem is a reflection that you can have experiences that have passed in your life, both positive and negative. There may be people that will only be around for just a short period of time, before you then move to something next. Yet, the most important thing is that you can remember is how this made an impact on your life. So, then, do you see the value you have in this world? The world is a better place just because you are in it. So let´s continue with kindness around us.
“May the Death be with You”
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