Currently I am reading a book called "Tuesdays With Morrie" by Mitch Albom. I previously read "The Five People You Meet In Heaven" as well, completing it in one sitting!
"Tuesdays With Morrie" is about a man who is dying from Lou Gehrigs Disease (ALS) and how he handles it. "The Five People In Heaven" is about a man who works at a carnival and fixes certain rides when they need it. He is a man who felt that he went through life and no one noticed or cared, even when he died. These are both small, but very powerful, books.
Each one of us has experienced change in the form of illnesses, or the natural deterioration of our own bodies during the ageing process, and it is an inevitable consequence for us all. Moreover, many of us have gone through the pain of watching a loved close to us die, either figuratively or actually (such as an illness which renders a person to be someone other than he/she used to be, or death).
This subject makes one think about how our own bodies change, and the impact that this has on those around us as well. Some of us will fight and resist change and insist upon hanging on to a dream or an idea of a person as he/she used to be. Is it not often the case that as we watch someone whom we love or care about deeply become ill or suffer, that at times, we too may die in the process as well? Are we not all ordinary individuals having extraordinary experiences?
When the day is done and over, how do we decide who we are? How do we judge ourselves, and when, and by what achievements (of lack thereof) does one leave an imprint on those around us? Do we measure ourselves by only our achievements? Do each of us stop to live the very best life we can, or do we keep waiting for the miracles around us to happen? Does age become our teacher, or our own enemy? If you had to write your own epitaph, what would you want it to say, and why?
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