Sunday, November 05, 2006

family ties

november 1 is not just a day for remembering the dead. it is also for remembering the living who are nearing death. it is a duty for the family to care not so much for the healthy but more so for the sickly and suffering members. one must face reality. one must accept the fact that earthly life will end and a transition to the other worlds will come. our attachment to those we love makes this painful. and yet, how many of us seem now to distance ourselves from sickly and suffering family members? now that they are emaciated, skin and bones, and immobile, why do we not find time to be with them? how come we find it difficult to hold their cold hands, to whisper in their ears white lies of their "good"health, to talk with them face-to-face smelling their foul breath?

we must do all these now, while warm air is passing in and out of their nostrils, while their saliva can slide down the corners of their mouths, while their eyes are open, and the sunlight can still awaken them.