Death and its blessings
April 3, 2002 | 12:00am
Matinee idol Rico Yan’s sudden demise have made a lot of us realize how fleeting life is. I remember having been hit by this realization upon the death of Princess Diana years ago. Those who die young and at the peak of their physical capabilities leave all of us dumbfounded and confused. These events make us look at our lives and assess the way we have lived so far.
In the book "Tuesdays with Morrie" Mitch Albom renews his relationship with his dying professor and gets to be the last student in Morrie Schwartz’s "lessons on how to live." Morrie tells Mitch that in knowing how to die, we learn how to live. The moment we face death and the fears we have of it, we release ourselves and look at life in a different light. We become bolder and more expressive of our feelings. We seek the truth and learn to accept it without the embellishments.
Death also makes us look at what is important. Our time on earth is borrowed and when death comes to fetch us, there is no choice but to follow. Another enlightened soul that we have been privileged to listen to is Gary Zukav. I remember him telling the audience in the Oprah Winfrey Show that when a soul has fulfilled what it has been assigned to do in this life, it goes. Those words have had such a profound effect on me as I now view this life as a chapter in a book. When the chapter is over, we move on to the next because the soul lives on forever.
Of course, we have to nourish our souls while we are still here. We spread joy and love to everyone, especially our families and friends. One thing I learned is to always go for finding the truth even if it hurts. It is the only way we can cope with the realities of this life. I tell my friends what I perceive as the truth about myself and about the situations we find ourselves in. I have been blessed with some who share the same perceptions and we learn to negotiate and renew our relationships by basing it on honesty and openness. We hurt each other as we expose our own versions of the truth, our own feelings about a certain event. In the end, those who remain in my circle of friends are the ones who are free to tell me who they think I am and what they think I do right or wrong. I am also at ease in telling them how I feel and they relish in the experience of openness and not in the temporary exchange of angry words. Those who let their insecurities cloud their judgment oftentimes find themselves out in the cold and wanting of the warmth that love and friendship bring. An e-mail message was sent to me once that said: "If you think there is no other way for you to help someone, try prayer."
Rico Yan was lucky to have led a charmed life. He experienced love and all its highs and lows, true friendship and all its joy, material and spiritual wealth that many people will never get to have because of their beliefs about the world and its cruelty. He was rewarded a peaceful death and his family and friends were spared of the anguish a lingering illness or a violent passing would have brought. People now remember him for his kind words, his business acumen, his involvement in national affairs and the way he helped the poor, things we would not have known had he not died. The good deeds he did without fanfare.
His spiritual adviser, Fr. Toti Caluag, called him "magna animus" or a great soul. That is great news for us as we now know what we all can aspire to become.
In the book "Tuesdays with Morrie" Mitch Albom renews his relationship with his dying professor and gets to be the last student in Morrie Schwartz’s "lessons on how to live." Morrie tells Mitch that in knowing how to die, we learn how to live. The moment we face death and the fears we have of it, we release ourselves and look at life in a different light. We become bolder and more expressive of our feelings. We seek the truth and learn to accept it without the embellishments.
Death also makes us look at what is important. Our time on earth is borrowed and when death comes to fetch us, there is no choice but to follow. Another enlightened soul that we have been privileged to listen to is Gary Zukav. I remember him telling the audience in the Oprah Winfrey Show that when a soul has fulfilled what it has been assigned to do in this life, it goes. Those words have had such a profound effect on me as I now view this life as a chapter in a book. When the chapter is over, we move on to the next because the soul lives on forever.
Of course, we have to nourish our souls while we are still here. We spread joy and love to everyone, especially our families and friends. One thing I learned is to always go for finding the truth even if it hurts. It is the only way we can cope with the realities of this life. I tell my friends what I perceive as the truth about myself and about the situations we find ourselves in. I have been blessed with some who share the same perceptions and we learn to negotiate and renew our relationships by basing it on honesty and openness. We hurt each other as we expose our own versions of the truth, our own feelings about a certain event. In the end, those who remain in my circle of friends are the ones who are free to tell me who they think I am and what they think I do right or wrong. I am also at ease in telling them how I feel and they relish in the experience of openness and not in the temporary exchange of angry words. Those who let their insecurities cloud their judgment oftentimes find themselves out in the cold and wanting of the warmth that love and friendship bring. An e-mail message was sent to me once that said: "If you think there is no other way for you to help someone, try prayer."
Rico Yan was lucky to have led a charmed life. He experienced love and all its highs and lows, true friendship and all its joy, material and spiritual wealth that many people will never get to have because of their beliefs about the world and its cruelty. He was rewarded a peaceful death and his family and friends were spared of the anguish a lingering illness or a violent passing would have brought. People now remember him for his kind words, his business acumen, his involvement in national affairs and the way he helped the poor, things we would not have known had he not died. The good deeds he did without fanfare.
His spiritual adviser, Fr. Toti Caluag, called him "magna animus" or a great soul. That is great news for us as we now know what we all can aspire to become.
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