Remembering fragility
Yesterday at work (I do house inspections) a woman told me that a few months ago she woke up to a loud noise coming from the stairwell. There she found her husband, dead at the age of 69.
Later that day I listened to a podcast interview with Tomas von Brömssen, a Swedish actor. They were talking about death and he recalled the incident when comedian Tommy Cooper died during a live TV show at the age of 63.
Tragic events and something that's obviously hard to go through for anyone who loses someone close to them - at any age. But death is the contract we sign when we are born. You can't have one without the other.
I don't say this in a hopeless, despairing, why bother, everything is meaningless kind of way. On the contrary...
By knowing and remembering the fragility of nature, we become more receptive to the beauty of life. We go from the mundane to the magical.
We are alive, and that's pretty amazing!
Kobayashi Issa says it all in a haiku:
This dewdrop world -
Is a dewdrop world,
And yet, and yet ...