Sting of Death

It is painful to see someone very dear to us depart us and this beautiful world; the pain is several times more, when the person who is dying is very close to us, either through family relationship or through psychological relationship. It is the same whether one is related to the dying person physically or psychologically, and it might be hard to believe that the person we have been relating to so deeply and intimately is suddenly no more. That is the kind of feeling one goes through when death knocks at our door suddenly, unannounced.We find it hard to accept that fate had been so cruel with regard to our dear one.

It is hard to say no when death knocks at our door; we may believe in miraculous cures, and we may trust that hope against hope cannot go in vain, but ultimately when the last hour comes, we cannot run away from it. Death may have the last laughter, as it were, and we may be left to be silent spectators, watching the departure of our dear one, sinking into the everlasting silence, where all our cries may find no place. This pain and agony, and in some cases psychological trauma, is real and actual.

I found it hard to accept this reality when this happened to my family, when my only sister was left alone with her daughter at the sudden and unannounced departure of her husband! She was not ever fortunate to see him alive some time earlier. He died in a foreign land, some nine months after he had bidden goodbye... Who would have thought that he was going to bid goodbye to them forever! It is true the agony I had gone through was far less in comparison to that of my sister and niece. The pain may lurk at the depth of their hearts for sometime.

Sometimes I wonder why we feel so lost when a dear person dies; it is true that we feel helpless when we have to take charge of things at the sudden departure of the person who was managing our families. We may have to start learning our lessons from the very beginning, and it may not be altogether easy. In a web of relationships, even when a thin line is severed, it is sure to affect the strength of the web, and that is what happens at the death of a dear one. But at the same time, we cannot exercise our power or authority over death.

That every human person is ultimately powerless before death is something consoling to the so-called powerless in the world. Even the greatest of kings and persons will ultimately be laid to rest on earth is the truth that all of us have to understand and accept. That we are all powerless and helpless is another truth, which can help us to accept this reality with resignation! This is not the kind of passive resignation, but the one where we bid farewell to our dear one with a smile, thanking them for what they had been to us and to the human family! It is then that they become part of the human and universal heritage... part of every human person on earth!