Back in the fall of 2010 I wrote a post in rememberance of someone who was a total stranger. The post itself was quite simple mostly because the bulk of it consisted of a poem. But the message and power it possessed was clear. Perhaps that is why it remains the most popular post on the site!
Death is THE END but when it occurs those of us who are left behind are intrigued, inspired, persuaded and or engulfed by what happened between the beginning of ones life and the end.
The poem was THE DASH by Linda Ellis.
Just a little over a month ago, I lost someone who lived her 84 year old DASH through serving others and sharing kindness and love. She was my confidant, “my grandmother” (at times), my BFF, my voice of reason, my heart… She was my Aunt Mildred.
Losing her has been difficult, especially since I watched her battle her illness most of last year. When she passed her DASH told a story of a woman who gave her life to serving others. At her funeral, I read the DASH as I knew it would make her smile and make those of us who are still here reconsider what we will do with the rest of our DASH.
But as much as this post is about my aunt, it is more about the importance of our DASH.
After reading an online article about the death of 35 year-old Hazell Stoudemire (Amare’s brother) I did what I often do, I read the comments.
The paper who published the article following the fatal car accident focused a considerable amount on the darkness of Hazell’s short life. The comments overwhelmingly showed that despite his dark past, readers still desire that we pause in sympathy when a life is lost and not focus on what that life was, afterall a mother still has to bury her son, a family a brother and a community a friend.
This got me to thinking… (and yes blogging)
What am I doing in my DASH, what have I done and what else will I do… What are you doing, what have you done and what else will you do?
How Will They Remember You… How will you LIVE your DASH?
