What death can not conquer….

/ September 29, 2009 / 6 Comments / Uncategorised

“You appear to be in a pensive mood” Lulu, the parrot, said settling down on my shoulder. “You must have read something in the book which you are holding, and it must have set you thinking”.
“I know you can take a bird’s eye view of anything easily, it comes so naturally to you, but I never knew you could peep into my mind so easily” I continued, “Yes, you are right. This little story in the book set me thinking”.
“Share it with me then…”
“Yes, of course. Let me read it out to you…..

Many magnificent moral moments come from our life experiences, especially the experience of suffering, and most especially, the experience of those who are in the process of dying. There are many such moments in ‘Tuesdays with Morrie’, Mitch Albom’s conversations with his old teacher.

….The fact that we are all going to die brings us face to face with questions about the meaning and purpose of our life. Death and dying are our teachers. They ask us to question our values and our commitments. The following exchange between Mirch and [his old teacher] Morrie touched me deeply:

He asked to see the hibiscus plant on the ledge behind him. I cupped it in my hand and held it near his eyes. He smiled.
“It’s natural to die,” he said again. “The fact that we make such a big hullabaloo over it is all because we don’t see ourselves as part of the nature. We think we’re human because we’re something above nature.”
He smiled at the plant.
“We’re not. Everything that gets born, dies.” He looked at me.
“Do you accept that?”
“Yes.”
“All right,” he whispered, “now here’s the payoff. Here is how we are different from those wonderful plants and animals.
“As long as we can love each other, and remember the feeling of love we had, we can die without ever really going away. All the love you created is still there. All the memories are still there. You live on – in the hearts of everyone you have touched and nurtured while you were here…..”
“Death ends a life, not a relationship.”

“Hmmmm…Very insightful,” Lulu said “Death ends a life, not a relationship!” Now it was Lulu’s turn to fall in deep thinking!
“What’s happening?’ I enquired “What are you thinking, Lulu?”
“Yesterday you spoke to me about the movie ‘The Bucket List.’ It shows its protagonist making a list of things he wishes to do before he ‘kicked the bucket’.”
“So?”
“I am now tearing off my Bucket List and making a new one, it must focus on building relationships!” Lulu said while flying away.

Vivek

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