Death is all around us

Death is truly all around us; if it's not someone we know directly or indirectly, it is someone whose death touches us Universally. We may empathise with the family or the community of the deceased and really feel their pain while relating to their sorrow. On the other hand, we may sympathise with them; understanding and supporting them with compassion without being overwhelmed by the pain of the sorrow. Both are compassionate responses and both are correct responses depending on the individual.

Regardless of our response to someone's loss or to our own losses, we are constantly being reminded to live life while we are alive. In a matter of a month now, I have heard the term 'massive stroke' twice. One was a month ago, when my 75 year old neighbor had one of these while on vacation up in Maine. Somehow, he survived this catastrophic blow to his life and is recovering or is beginning the journey of recovering from a stroke. Apparently this journey is one of the least and best understood phenomenon that medicine witnesses. This journey of recovery is dependent on factors that are well understood and on something else modern medicine cannot explain; the will and the desire of the individual to heal and live. While the doctor in Maine gave the family absolutely no hope, the family and the patient have nevertheless maintained hope. The extended family and the local community attends his bedside with regularity and with commitment to his regaining all that was lost. While it is difficult to reconcile to such a fate, time is not wasted on this adjustment, the imperative need to be supported through this challenge rises above all resistance to what is. Even though I resist having to see George in this state, I now access my empathy, recognize what I would want if I was paralyzed on half of my body and I make my own journey each week to his bedside. Still, it is important to realize that death has already occurred; only time will tell how much life will return.

The second time I heard about massive stroke was this morning; a friend's mother died of a massive stroke this past weekend. Unexpected death catches us unprepared and again we feel deeply for the family of the deceased. Again we are reminded that life is full of unexpected endings and are once again motivated to live each day as if it could be your last.