this earth. If that were the case and I in fact only had one day left to live I would spend it with my boyfriend Aaron. Aaron has inspired me in so many aspects of my life and I am forever grateful to him. I consider Aaron to be a part of my family and truly love him with all of my heart. I would spend my last day with Aaron because he is not only my soul mate but best friend. We can have fun doing anything and always make each other laugh while doing it. He balances me out perfectly, and I really feel like God put us together for a reason.
It’s hard to think about how you would spend your last day alive. It really makes you put things into perspective and think about what is important to you. “When you visualize your possessions and relationships from the perspective of being dead, hopefully, you’ll find people and things you actually do care about” (Porras, Emery & Thompson, 2007). This quote rings so true to me. You can’t take anything with you when you die and if you look at everything you have from the perspective of not being alive, it changes how you feel about some things.
There is a place called profile rock in Assonet, MA that my boyfriend and I love to go to. The trails and foliage are so beautiful and peaceful. There is a huge rock you can climb up and the top is kind of a flat surface, which is cool because after you conquer climbing the rock you can relax and look out at the beautiful view. During my last day alive I would bring Aaron there so we could explore trails that we had never been on and just take in the nature all around us. I would bring a picnic basket full of our favorite foods so that once we reached the top we could enjoy a good meal and relax atop the rock with the sun beating down on us.
After profile rock I would want to visit my family. Family is so important to me and Aaron knows that and would want to go spend time with them. We would sit around and talk about our lives and all of the funny and not so funny things that we have all been through together. I can’t imagine not being close with my family and being able to talk to them about anything. My family is my foundation and mean the world to me. Shortly after my grandpa passed away my grandma found a great poem about death that made all of us feel a little more at peace with his passing. The poem is titled Death is nothing at all by Henry Scott Holland. I have only slipped away into the next room. I am I, and you are you, whatever we were to each other, that we are still. Call me by the old familiar name. Speak of me in the easy way which you always used. Put no difference into your tone. Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow. Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes that we enjoyed together. Play, smile, think of me, pray for me. Let my name be ever the household word that it always was. Let it be spoken without effort, without the ghost of a shadow upon it. Life means all that it ever meant. It is the same as it ever was. There is absolute and unbroken continuity. What is this death but a negligible accident? Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight? I am but waiting for you, for an interval, somewhere very near, just round the corner. All is well. This poem got me through a lot after my grandpa passed.
Aaron and I love to be outdoors. During my last day alive I would like to take a camping trip with him. There is a campground off of the Kagamangus Highway called Jigger Johnson. This campground is beautiful and is hidden in the gorgeous White Mountains. We would spend our time there hiking, kayaking, and relaxing around a campfire. Aaron and me both love to be outside and enjoy nature, we enjoy the little things in life that others may take for granted.
I feel like a lot of people just go through life doing what they feel others want them to do. “If popular culture had its way, our lives would be dedicated to the relentless pursuit of things we are told we can’t live without- as if it was actually true that things go better with coke, $200 sneakers, cool clothes, and personality dialysis, plus a new, different, and better wife, husband, lover, friend, and co worker” (Porras, Emery & Thompson, 2007). I feel like people don’t appreciate what they have as much as what they want. Materialistic thing do not make you happy and can not be taken with you when you die and it’s sad because some people don’t realize it until it’s too late.
Death used to scare me, even just hearing the word frightened me. Ever since starting this class I have begun to change the way I look at things in my life. Even though we’ve just begun to delve into the class I am really grateful that I have the opportunity to see life in a whole new light. “Just as life depends on the interaction of four basic elements- earth, water, fire, and air, plus ether- the process of dying begins with the dissolution of these elements” ( Porras, Emery & Thompson, 2007). This quote talks about how we leave this world just as we came into it. Death is a part of life and everyone is forced to deal with it in one way or another, whether we like it or not.
References:
Porras, J. , Emery, S. , Thompson, M. (2007). Success Built To Last: Creating A Life That Matters. Penguin Group Inc. New York, New York.
Kramer, K. (1988) The Sacred Art Of Dying. Paulist Press, New York.
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