There were some "Aww's" as I spoke, as well as some stares of compassion and admiration. But I had to continue, I was very close to my goal, one that I had set at the very moment I began to ask the questions. "Beyond all of that, the reason why I asked you these questions was because I would like you to see that everyone has a story. People that we see everyday has a story and we just don't know it. Had I not asked you these questions, you probably will not know much about each other, but now you do and it was quite quick, right?" They smiled. "If we could just get more people to tell us their story or at least feel comfortable enough to tell it, imagine what a better world we would live in". No one said anything, so I continued "I think... that... we begin to live when we face death". Natalie said "I agree, Daniel". I continued, ignoring her comment for one second, and said "We fail to realize that no relationship lasts forever in a physical way. So if we just realized and internalized this belief we would all appreciate everyone else a lot more". Mike added "It's not that easy, man". I told him, "I know, brother. I know". I went back to Natalie saying "Nat, you mentioned something about death. Have you faced death or encountered it in a way of a relative close to you?" She responded "Plenty of times, but it's not something I want to talk about right now" and she smiled. I respected that and so did everyone else. No one tried to persuade her into speaking and I knew we were understanding each other a lot more by now.
Melody went on to say that she too had faced too many deaths in her family. Linda added her fear that her sister may go extremely bad if her boyfriend left her. Mike added that he needed to find his purpose in life, and I told the story of my mother crying uncontrollably the night I left her to come to this country and the shame I had for not crying and for not hugging her as hard. I confessed to them that today, I just wished to have her here one day so I can give her that big guy I didn't give her the night I left. We continued to share a bit more of stories and some laughs. There were some teases and some remarks
"I'm sorry, girls, did I bore you?" Almost simultaneously, they responded firmly "No" and I was relieved that they did. "I don't need to ask you, Mike. You have to listen to me anyway" I said laughing. "Yeah, jerk, whatever" he laughed too.
Death is a scary topic. It makes us uncomfortable and often we avoid it, but we forget that sooner or later it will get to us, no matter how long or how successful we are at cheating it. Of course, I want to cheat death for as long as I can, but if I accept and you accept that we can be gone at any moment, then we would appreciate our lives and the lives of others a lot more.
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This story is real, but the names have been changed for privacy and they might be changed again once I put this article on the
blog. Now, I would like to ask you,
what is one thing really close to your heart? why? and if you had to go today, what would you want to leave to him/her/them? P.S. I hope it's not a problem that I posted twice. It's just the story continued. I had to do it because it said the post was too long. I apologize in advance 