Honoring a Life: Why Every Story Deserves to Be Told

Life Is a Journey By Alvin Fine Birth is a beginning and death a destination; But life is a journey. A going, a growing from stage to stage: From childhood to maturity and youth to old age. From innocence to awareness and ignorance to knowing; From foolishness to discretion and then perhaps, to wisdom. From weakness to strength or strength to weakness and often back again. From health to sickness and back we pray, to health again. From offense to forgiveness, from loneliness to love, From joy to gratitude, from pain to compassion. From grief to understanding, from fear to faith; From defeat to defeat to defeat, until, looking backward or ahead: We see that victory lies not at some high place along the way, But in having made the journey, stage by stage, a sacred pilgrimage. Birth is a beginning and death a destination; But life is a journey, a sacred pilgrimage, Made stage by stage...To life everlasting. Additional Thoughts... Death, Dying, Dead…words we try not to use as they are so final, yet they are the reality of a life lived. It is exactly what we need to do as we journey live our lives to the fullest possible. Death is the final frontier, yet we try so hard to hide from it as if it will never come. Yet it is in our daily lives. A seed from a flower enters the earth, it sits beneath the surface of the soil, patiently waiting. Yet does the seed know it is alive? It knows exactly what to do, it takes in nutrients from the earth, slowly but surely establishing roots. As the roots grow deeper into the earth a stem and leaves push their way above. The tender leaves feel the warmth of the sun pushing further. The rain comes and nurtures the tiny seedling, it drinks in the cool water and continues to grow. The sun, the rain continues to grow reaching higher as if forms leaves, and buds that continue into beautiful flowers. The flowers feed the bees; mankind notices its beauty for a fleeting moment in a face paced world. The flower continues to smile and knows one day its life will be over, it knows it has fulfilled its purpose. The sunny days grow shorter, the nights are cooler the bees visit less often. The flowers begin to fade, and seed pods begin to form. The once beautiful plant looks a bit tired; its leaves have begun to brown and fall. Yet it continues to smile knowing it still has purpose its seeds will be the next generation.