Passing on

DEATH hits people in a bad way. It reminds us of our mortality. Except that, it doesn’t hit me that way. And because that is not the norm, then I am seen as the bad one.

Maybe in my past life I was of some country where they rejoice when someone dies.

I don’t really shout in joy, nor celebrate because someone died. I instead recall the happy times and I laugh my head off. Yes, most inappropriate.

This musing is brought about by the passing on of our former news editor, Nelson C. Bagaforo, last Friday. He lived a good life, that is what all of us would agree on, and so why cry?

Death is inevitable. Every one of us will die. It is how we lived that matters most.

True, death sneaks up on us most of the time and snatches a friend, a loved one, and sometimes even a fiend. But we should have known that all along.

The moment we were born, we are stepping closer to death. Thus, the urgency should be not on extending one’s life but on doing good all the time. Such that, we can just step out of this world and join the dearly departed, with a smile, while those left behind laugh about the good memories we made.

But no. That would be so insensitive, thus, that is how I appear to be.

“I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo in J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Fellowship of the Ring”.

“So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”

We are given one life to live. It is the living that matters because death is inevitable.

But yes, as is written in Lemony Snicket’s book, “Horseradish: Bitter truths you can’t avoid”:

“It is a curious thing, the death of a loved one. We all know that our time in this world is limited, and that eventually all of us will end up underneath some sheet, never to wake up. And yet it is always a surprise when it happens to someone we know. It is like walking up the stairs to your bedroom in the dark, and thinking there is one more stair than there is. Your foot falls down, through the air, and there is a sickly moment of dark surprise as you try and readjust the way you thought of things.”

It is a curious thing, indeed.

True, we will miss the one who passed. True, it will hit us worst once we hear that creaking noise as yet another casket is lowered into the ground. But that is life and that is death.

We are mortals and have been given a short time in this world. Let us not waste that time by caring more about things material and what others care about. Look inside and discern.

“For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. - 2 Corinthians 4:17-18

“Every human being is bound to taste death: but only on the Day of Resurrection will you be requited in full [for whatever you have done] - whereupon he that shall be drawn away from the fire and brought into paradise will indeed have gained a triumph: for the life of this world is nothing but an enjoyment of self-delusion.” Qur’an 3:185

And as the Tibetan tradition would say, death is certain but the time of death is uncertain, therefore, the only thing that can help us at the time of death is our mental and spiritual development.