Death is sad.
A friend of ours, Bob, died today.
He was about my age.
He lived nearby.
He was a good man.
…A really good man.
He was an amazing father.
He was successful at his work and was CFO for a great company.
He was healthy.
He was always smiling.
He was ALWAYS helping, helpful and available to help more.
There was a peace about him…
A deliberateness to his goodness that I always deeply admired and appreciated.
We had recently talked about doing a bigger scale father – son ski trip this coming year.
Death is sad.
One of our friends texted me.
“Send me something on death from the archives. Send me something to help me make sense of this.”
I know he is hurting.
It’s close to home.
Death is sad.
My heart hurts, specially for his family.
Death is particularly sad when it is a surprise, when you think have time left to live, to enjoy, to participate. And, he certainly did.
My heart hurts when I think about his children having to accept all of a sudden that his comforting smile, his warm embrace, his reassuring tone, his confident being will no longer be there to love.
My heart hurts when I think about his family acknowledging the loss, the physical pain you feel when someone who is dear to your heart gets ripped away.
My heart hurts when I think about his passing.
He was the kind of man who was loved by all.
He was the kind of man who will be deeply missed.
He was the kind of man, I look up to and aspire to.
Death is sad and death is life.
Thankfully these days, death is not an everyday occurrence for us.
We live generally in peace, in health, and in comfort.
I truly believe that death should be with us every day.
By that, I mean that the “GOOD” that comes from death, in my opinion, is that it makes those of us who haven’t reached it yet, be a little more conscious that someday we will.
The only good that comes from death, in my opinion, is that it reminds us that life is finite.
And, the more conscious that we are of the certainty of death, the more we may be able to experience and find joy in our lives.
The more conscious that we are of the certainty of death, the more we may be able to keep life in the right context…
In the context of gratitude, in the context of joy, in the context of not wasting time on those things that do not matter.
Good people don’t die… they transform.
They transform into goodness, into fondness, into hope, into tears.
Good people live on in the hearts of those they leave behind.
Good people live on in the desire they leave behind in us to live more deliberately.
Good people live on in the impression they have left in those they have loved… in the example that they have set for us… in the inspiration they give us every moment we remember them.
How do we make sense of death?
We make sense of death by making sense of life.
We make sense of death by celebrating the lives of those good souls that we have loved with joy, with purpose, with meaning... with gratitude for the time that we have left.
Aspiring for harmony in every moment… in every breath.
Death is sad and death is life.
Good people don’t die… they transform fully into goodness...
I believe all of this with great confidence…
And, I also know that to those closest to Bob, the reality of the loss his departure leaves behind will be so very painful.
Death is emotionally sad. Loss is physically painful. All require time to heal.
My heart hurts for Bob’s family.
I will remember him always, and aspire to leave as powerful an impression in others as he left on me.
Rest in peace my friend…
Chief Tecumseh wrote a wonderful poem... that ends...
When it comes your time to die, be not like those whose hearts are
filled with the fear of death, so that when their time comes they weep
and pray for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way.
Sing your death song and die like a hero going home.
Bob, you sir, are a hero... going home! And, you will be deeply missed.
Nestor