Pastors Moment: I finally have to accept - Goodbye my friend Kaberere. Today marks the last day of your earthly Sojourn. Superlatives as usual are used to describe those who depart. I will do it differently, on the day your body takes the last journey, I will dedicate todays Pastor Moment to you. I am sharing the memorable Essay by the late Roger Ebert, which is lifted from his book, Life Itself: A Memoir. (I have applied a little editing and paraphrasing) I know it is coming, and I do not fear it, because I believe there is nothing on the other side of death to fear. I hope to be spared as much pain as possible on the approach path. I was perfectly content before I was born, and I think of death as the same state. I am grateful for the gifts of intelligence, love, wonder and laughter. You can’t say it wasn’t interesting. My lifetime’s memories are what I have brought home from the trip. I will require them for eternity no more than that little souvenir of the Eiffel Tower I brought home from Paris. I don’t expect to die anytime soon. But it could happen this moment, while I am writing. I was talking the other day with Jim Toback, a friend of 35 years, and the conversation turned to our deaths, as it always does. “Ask someone how they feel about death,” he said, “and they’ll tell you everyone’s gonna die. Ask them, In the next 30 seconds? No, no, no, that’s not gonna happen. How about this afternoon? No. What you’re really asking them to admit is, Oh my God, I don’t really exist. I might be gone at any given second.” Me too, but I hope not. I have plans. Still, illness led me resolutely toward the contemplation of death. That led me to the subject of evolution, that most consoling of all the sciences, and I became engulfed on my blog in unforeseen discussions about God, the afterlife, religion, theory of evolution, intelligent design, reincarnation, the nature of reality, what came before the big bang, what waits after the end, the nature of intelligence, the reality of the self, death, death, death. I have no desire to live forever. The concept frightens me. I am 69, have had cancer, will die sooner than most of those reading this. That is in the nature of things. In my plans for life after death, I say, again with Whitman: I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love, If you want me again look for me under your boot-soles. And to Social Media users, especially the chaps on Twitter and Facebook, I say, retweet a tweet of mine everyday, comment on any of my updates at least once a week To those on Instagram, I say, That was my last Selfie, accepting my death To Death, I remain defiant like Paul while writing to the Corinthians, (1 Corinthians 15:55), ..O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? Kabebere, Fare thee well, we are wiser now, we know death awaits us anywhere, any moment in any way, we shall not fear. To the wife Njesh, son and unborn baby to you I say, we will remain your true friends in words and deed God Bless You and Keep You
Posted on: Thu, 10 Apr 2014 21:27:23 +0000
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