"Dance of Death, also variously called Danse Macabre (French), Danza Macabra (Italian and Spanish), Dança da Morte (Portuguese), or Totentanz (German), is a late-medieval allegory on the universality of death: no matter one's station in life, the dance of death unites all."
I write not because of the nearing holiday observed by most people from different parts of the world. I type away for a different reason: a recent passing of a distant relative.
This year has been one of tragedy, of pain, of loss...words are just flat symbols on the page that represent our emotions. How does one explain the immense feeling of emptiness in losing a loved one? Where words fail, tears and sighs could only fill in the gaps.
Last respects for the departed. It is only fitting that one flies over so many miles just to be with the loved one for the last time. To embrace those who are grieving. To have that final cry of sorrow.
I didn't cross a continent to visit the wake of my distant relative. Last night, Y, my bestfriend, called me and asked where I was. I replied saying that I'm at a distant grandma's wake. Told her the name of the departed's husband and she automatically replied: "We are all connected."
Baffled and wanting an explanation, I urged her to continue.
"One of my students in the 5th Grade is going back to the Philippines for a couple of weeks. I was actually asked if I would give him something to work on while he's away. I learned that his grandma had recently died and that's the name that was mentioned. By the way, the boy's name is Lawrence."
My distant grandpa's name is Lorenzo and I have met this boy some months back. Freaky that the world could be so big and yet there are invisible lines that tie us into little circles--coincidences that prove that there's always a chance that we are connected by six degrees of separation. Sad though that the reason now is death.
I write not because of the nearing holiday observed by most people from different parts of the world. I type away for a different reason: a recent passing of a distant relative.
This year has been one of tragedy, of pain, of loss...words are just flat symbols on the page that represent our emotions. How does one explain the immense feeling of emptiness in losing a loved one? Where words fail, tears and sighs could only fill in the gaps.
Last respects for the departed. It is only fitting that one flies over so many miles just to be with the loved one for the last time. To embrace those who are grieving. To have that final cry of sorrow.
I didn't cross a continent to visit the wake of my distant relative. Last night, Y, my bestfriend, called me and asked where I was. I replied saying that I'm at a distant grandma's wake. Told her the name of the departed's husband and she automatically replied: "We are all connected."
Baffled and wanting an explanation, I urged her to continue.
"One of my students in the 5th Grade is going back to the Philippines for a couple of weeks. I was actually asked if I would give him something to work on while he's away. I learned that his grandma had recently died and that's the name that was mentioned. By the way, the boy's name is Lawrence."
My distant grandpa's name is Lorenzo and I have met this boy some months back. Freaky that the world could be so big and yet there are invisible lines that tie us into little circles--coincidences that prove that there's always a chance that we are connected by six degrees of separation. Sad though that the reason now is death.
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1 comments:
I remember you were the first to tell me about 4 years ago that "we are all connected". I didn't understand it at that time, but through reading Murakami's Dance Dance Dance and my experiences in the past few years, I come to believe that it is true and it's not just with the 6 degrees of separation. Whatever we do, something or someone is affected and that is indeed a heavy responsibility.
Death is not the end though. There is ofcourse the Life-Death-Life cycle. Death is necessary to bring forth more life.
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