What is a 'short while'? Two weeks? 6 months? 3 years? 40 years? Does it make a difference how we would prepare for leaving this earth if we had some certainty about when we would die? Would we give up wanting to achieve anything? Tell our loved ones how much they mean to us? Ensure we leave a lasting legacy, a symbol of our sojourn here on this earth?
Who knows till we are actually faced with such a scenario what our direction would be.
When my sister lay in Kingston Public Hospital in the final stages of cervical cancer, I confess I didn't know how to help her face dying. I wanted, in the face of her pain and inevitable demise, to tell her that it was OK if she wanted to go, that she could just close her eyes and slip away. Yet I was present when others spoke to her of miracles and faith and hope.
And I didn't think I could take that away from her, especially as all along I too was muttering to the divine universal spirit to create for her the best possible health outcome. In the end, I said nothing except to give her the love and attention I could while I was with her.
There is a man I have seen on video recently, Randy Pausch, who knows he is dying and that it is 'shortly' to be inevitable. He has created an incredible statement on video that has now been watched by millions of people all over the world. His courage and capacity is to be admired and its led me to wonder what I would do if I knew I had but a short while to live.
To view the video, click here
But it is not in the dying but in the living that we really make our imprint. And I learnt things about my sister, about her way of living which I had not understood, that told me that as impoverished as she was, she had the capacity for touching the lives of others by what she was able to give of herself, sharing with and caring for others.
How she did that when she knew so little of being cared for in her early years, I do not know, but its been a blessing for others that she was able to do so. And she has taught me many valuable lessons.
Blessings for today
1. My teenage son has gone into a moody strop today but I hold dear the imprint of his head leaning against me in the cinema yesterday and the closeness of him as we waited for the train on Waterloo Station. And I know this moodiness will pass and we will again be right with each other. And I am blessed with him and give him all my love.
2. What can I say about today which was cold and wet and horribly grey? Ah yes! The bright yellow daffodils and dancing in the garden and they bring good cheer.
3. The results of my blood test indicate a healthy system and that is indeed a huge blessing.
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