The reward for goodbyes
Paulo Coelho, a Brazilian lyricist and writer once said “If you’re brave enough to say goodbye, life will reward you with a new hello.”
So many of the things and people that we love are like sunbeams that dance atop waves. They shine brightly and leave special moments embedded into our hearts. However, they move away quickly and we will soon fail to recognise them in any place apart from our very own memories.
Farewells are the part of life that denote a form of change. Young people moving into adulthood say goodbye a lot more often. To them, farewells denote the entry into a new part of life – it shows that there is growth taking place.
Sometimes, leaving behind the people we know and love is extremely difficult not only because we will miss them, but because they have become an integral part of our lives and identities. So, moving on from them also means changing a part of who we are. On the other hand, relationships that we have put effort into will always last despite the obstacles of distance or time.
Recently, I discovered an interesting fact about vampire bats. When food is scarce, these little animals help out neighbouring bats by regurgitating and sharing blood that they have collected. This takes place in a process quite similar to the way a mother bird feeds her chicks.
An even more intriguing part of this fact is that vampire bats can remember other bats that have shared with them in times of need. They will then be more inclined to assist those bats in the future using the same method of sharing blood. Similarly, studies have also shown that bats are less likely to share with neighbours that have not shared with them in the past.
Human beings are quite different from vampire bats, but we do share the same strength in bonds such as friendship, parenthood and love. Coelho’s quote reminds us that the courage to say goodbye will lead us to new relationships and opportunities. However, having the courage to say goodbye also means that we have the strength to believe that we can always turn back or reach out and find the warmth and comfort of the same relationships that we had left behind.
The process of growth brings about the end of certain familiar parts of our childhood. It is a bittersweet phenomenon that takes place so slowly that we don’t even realise how much has changed until we stop to turn around and contemplate. Goodbye should not be a door that we shut, but a curtain that we pull close just for a few moments before we open it to reveal a beautiful new day.
The word ‘goodbye’ is said to have come from an Old English phrase meaning ‘God be with you’.
In the same manner that this word serves to remind us that there is a higher power watching over us, let us also take this word as a souvenir of the relationships that we will never lose and the people we will never forget.