I hear about death all the time in the media. Car accidents and shootings, war, disease . . . I see it on TV played out in gruesome detail. Death is a part of life. But it does not fully register until it is a familiar name, a familiar face—and then, for a moment, I am awakened anew to the fact that anything can happen at any time. It does not matter how old you are, or where you live, or how many people call you friend . . . one small slip can bring everything to an end.
The sadness I feel is for all of the things we leave unsaid in our lives. All of the barriers we build because we are hurt or afraid. The way we hide ourselves from others. We say goodbye, and we never imagine that this will be the last time. We may not think we have forever, but we probably think we have longer than the end of this day. We think we have just a little bit more time to get it right, to say what we feel, to take the next step forward. Except, we might not.
“To finish the moment, to find the journey’s end in every step of the road, to live the greatest number of good hours, is wisdom.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson
A.N. - R.I.P.
Wisdom? Well, I doubt I have any at this time. But just an observation from my experience…maybe sometimes too much gets said, but still there’s never enough time.
September 22nd, 2009 at 10:23 am