<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class="">Dick,<div class="">Ken remembered reading this poem by Willam Bryant in his junior high English class. While it might have been beyond all their experience at that time, I re-read it aloud yesterday and found it a good reflection on the general state of affairs of all of us. </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">It is long and best read aloud. I also send you all of my memories of riding in a car with you to recruit RS-I in Denver many years ago!! :)</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Ruth</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><div class="c-feature-hd" style="margin: 0px 0px 4px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 22px; font-family: adobe-garamond-pro; vertical-align: baseline;"><h1 class="c-hdgSans_2 c-mix-hdgSans_inline c-hdgSans" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 1.75rem; font-style: inherit; font-family: canada-type-gibson; vertical-align: baseline; display: inline; line-height: 1.231;">Thanatopsis</h1></div><div class="c-feature-sub_vast c-feature-sub" style="margin: 0px 0px 33px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 22px; font-family: adobe-garamond-pro; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;" class=""><span class="c-txt c-txt_attribution" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 0.875rem; font-style: inherit; font-family: canada-type-gibson; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(73, 73, 73); display: inline-block; letter-spacing: 1.4px; text-transform: uppercase;">BY <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/william-cullen-bryant" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); transition: color 250ms cubic-bezier(0.215, 0.61, 0.355, 1);" class="">WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT</a></span></div></div><div class="c-feature-bd" style="margin: 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 1.25rem; font-family: adobe-garamond-pro; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.3;"><div class=" isActive o-poem" data-view="PoemView" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; position: relative;"><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class=""> To him who in the love of Nature holds <br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">Communion with her visible forms, she speaks <br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">A various language; for his gayer hours <br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">She has a voice of gladness, and a smile <br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">And eloquence of beauty, and she glides <br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">Into his darker musings, with a mild <br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">And healing sympathy, that steals away <br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">Their sharpness, ere he is aware. When thoughts <br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">Of the last bitter hour come like a blight <br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">Over thy spirit, and sad images <br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">Of the stern agony, and shroud, and pall, <br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">And breathless darkness, and the narrow house, <br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">Make thee to shudder, and grow sick at heart;— <br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">Go forth, under the open sky, and list <br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">To Nature’s teachings, while from all around— <br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">Earth and her waters, and the depths of air— <br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">Comes a still voice— <br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class=""> Yet a few days, and thee <br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">The all-beholding sun shall see no more <br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">In all his course; nor yet in the cold ground, <br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">Where thy pale form was laid, with many tears, <br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">Nor in the embrace of ocean, shall exist <br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">Thy image. Earth, that nourished thee, shall claim <br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">Thy growth, to be resolved to earth again, <br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">And, lost each human trace, surrendering up <br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">Thine individual being, shalt thou go <br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">To mix for ever with the elements, <br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">To be a brother to the insensible rock <br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">And to the sluggish clod, which the rude swain <br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">Turns with his share, and treads upon. The oak <br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">Shall send his roots abroad, and pierce thy mould. <br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class=""> Yet not to thine eternal resting-place <br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">Shalt thou retire alone, nor couldst thou wish <br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">Couch more magnificent. Thou shalt lie down <br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">With patriarchs of the infant world—with kings, <br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">The powerful of the earth—the wise, the good, <br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">Fair forms, and hoary seers of ages past, <br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">All in one mighty sepulchre. The hills <br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">Rock-ribbed and ancient as the sun,—the vales <br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">Stretching in pensive quietness between; <br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">The venerable woods—rivers that move <br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">In majesty, and the complaining brooks <br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">That make the meadows green; and, poured round all, <br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">Old Ocean’s gray and melancholy waste,— <br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">Are but the solemn decorations all <br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">Of the great tomb of man. The golden sun, <br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">The planets, all the infinite host of heaven, <br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">Are shining on the sad abodes of death, <br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">Through the still lapse of ages. All that tread <br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">The globe are but a handful to the tribes <br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">That slumber in its bosom.—Take the wings <br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">Of morning, pierce the Barcan wilderness, <br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">Or lose thyself in the continuous woods <br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">Where rolls the Oregon, and hears no sound, <br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">Save his own dashings—yet the dead are there: <br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">And millions in those solitudes, since first <br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">The flight of years began, have laid them down <br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">In their last sleep—the dead reign there alone. <br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">So shalt thou rest, and what if thou withdraw <br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">In silence from the living, and no friend <br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">Take note of thy departure? All that breathe <br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">Will share thy destiny. The gay will laugh <br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">When thou art gone, the solemn brood of care <br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">Plod on, and each one as before will chase <br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">His favorite phantom; yet all these shall leave <br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">Their mirth and their employments, and shall come <br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">And make their bed with thee. As the long train <br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">Of ages glide away, the sons of men, <br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">The youth in life’s green spring, and he who goes <br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">In the full strength of years, matron and maid, <br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">The speechless babe, and the gray-headed man— <br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">Shall one by one be gathered to thy side, <br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">By those, who in their turn shall follow them. <br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class=""> So live, that when thy summons comes to join <br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">The innumerable caravan, which moves <br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">To that mysterious realm, where each shall take <br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">His chamber in the silent halls of death, <br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">Thou go not, like the quarry-slave at night, <br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">Scourged to his dungeon, but, sustained and soothed <br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave, <br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch <br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: -1em;" class="">About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams.</div></div></div><div><br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class="">On Dec 14, 2019, at 4:57 PM, Richard Alton via OE <<a href="mailto:oe@lists.wedgeblade.net" class="">oe@lists.wedgeblade.net</a>> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div class=""><div dir="ltr" class=""><div dir="ltr" class=""><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large"><div class="gmail-page" title="Page 1" style=""><div class="gmail-section"><div class="gmail-layoutArea"><div class="gmail-column"><p class=""><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Cambria" class=""><b class=""><u class="">Death up Close</u></b></span></p><p class=""><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Cambria" class="">It has been a rough year. Late in 2018 I fell off my bike and headed to the doctor to make sure I was okay. From a CT scan discovered two lung spots- four months of CT scans, a PET scan and a biopsy, (which caused a collapsed lung) to find out it was nothing the doctors were concerned about. But it generated a lot of thinking about my end of life, and death. Even went to a Church class on sharing what you have done or need to do to get ready for your funeral.</span></p><p class=""><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Cambria" class="">Then Jim Stovall, Sally’s brother (10 years in the Order), came down with stage 4 cirrhosis of the liver. They worked on a liver replacement, but Jim’s body became toxic and he died in April of this year. Then in May, Sally (significant other for 14 years) had a major stroke and died- just to give you a feel for this death up close:</span></p><p class=""><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Cambria;font-style:italic;color:rgb(34,34,34)" class="">Sally, nothing basically wrong...just general 70-year health problems... a little issue with high blood pressure but controlled by pills. She was getting ready for a meeting and I came into the bedroom and she was on the bed- said she got dizzy in the bathroom and just barely made it to the bed. She said she had a headache (her speech was a little slurred) and wanted two aspirins- I gave them to her and left her on the bed for 15 minutes- came back and she wanted to eat something- sure- but she could not get up except her left arm- I grabbed her arm but she was not able to make it up- I called ambulance-we got to the hospital- she had a massive stroke with major brain bleeding... from local Western Suburban Hospital took her downtown by ambulance to Rush (Chicago stroke Hospital). Arrived at Hospital by 10:30pm and they determined she had lost most of her brain function. We kept her on a breathing tube until her sister and daughter arrived the next day and pulled tube after a prayer service with her pastor Marti, Pam Bergdall, Carol (sister), Teresa (daughter), George Emerick (Teresa’s father) and myself. Sally lasted about 15 minutes. In a way it was great, it was quick. She was unconscious almost immediately at 730pm Monday night and pronounced dead at 4:27pm the next day, May 21st.. a great life</span></p><p class=""><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Cambria" class="">But I wasn’t prepared for the HOLE that was blown in my life with the loss of my partner of 14 years. And in the midst of this emotional loss, I have had to spend the last 7 months taking care of the aftereffects of Sally’s death and re-organizing my life. So, my learnings from these 3 death experiences (I count my lung problem as a near death):</span></p><ol style="list-style-type:none" class=""><li class=""><p class=""><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Cambria" class="">1) In all 3 events I was struck how unprepared we are for death both in handling others deaths or our own. We are overwhelmed by the loss of our loved one to deal with what is the most important event of our or their lives. How can we pay so little attention to expressing the meaning and purpose of this glorious life we have had?</span></p></li><li class=""><p class=""><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Cambria" class="">2) Second, death is usually hidden and then burst into our lives. Death is wicked how fast it comes and how it is all consuming and leaves little room for preparation or even thought. Sally’s stroke was unannounced, and she was gone in less that 12 hours. Jim Stovall was in a hospital fighting a losing battle for his life and Sally and his family were totally consumed with his </span><span style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:12pt" class="">care. It is hidden in that we do not want to even consider this end or admit to our finitude and mortality. The hiddenness from death, from this final power cuts us off from our journey leaves us shocked and disoriented in thinking/preparing to have a meaningful ending</span></p><p class=""><span style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:12pt" class="">3) What happens is professionals that deal a lot with death step in and organize the readings, the message, the music, the witness, the reception as the family and friends are frozen in losing a beloved one. When you read Matthew’s The Time My Father Died and Matthews gets mad at what the funeral home had done to his father. The issue is not the funeral home but rather Joseph had not thought through his father’s death.</span></p></li></ol></div></div></div></div><div class="gmail-page" title="Page 2" style=""><div class="gmail-section"><img src="blob:https://mail.google.com/2de48982-8225-4439-8a0a-fc8810a32a63" alt="page2image6769664" width="130.575468" height="0.720000" class=""><div class="gmail-layoutArea"><div class="gmail-column"><p class=""><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Cambria" class="">In the case of Sally, since I had been thinking about my own death- I asked ICA’s Seva Gandhi to do one of the Memorial Services witnesses to Sally’s life. I asked her to reflect on Sally’s time in the Order, the Ecumenical Institute and Institute of Cultural Affairs. Seva did a great job capturing Sally’s thankfulness for being in a religious community and how she engaged herself as being part of a global servant force that was out to care for the poorest of the poor. I was so pleased that it seemed to hold the depth, wonder and uniqueness of her existence;</span></p><ul style="list-style-type:none" class=""><li class=""><span style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:12pt" class="">Sally loved the religious house and the community, interaction, structures it brought her life.</span><br class=""></li><li class=""><span style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:12pt" class=""><br class=""></span></li><li class=""><span style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:12pt" class="">Sally loved the town meetings and her engaging the small towns across Utah. She had an amazing memory of those small town meetings and especially the songs.</span></li><li class=""><span style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:12pt" class=""><br class=""></span></li><li class=""><span style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:12pt" class="">It was clear that Sally had found purpose in her life and was sent to make a difference in this world. Others sensed this too. Was pretty obvious when she died on a Tuesday and the next day, Wednesday, we held a prayer service with 100 people showing up and talked and talked about what Sally meant to their lives. And then that Saturday at her Memorial Service 250 people showed up many unknown to us... people were standing in the Church aisles</span></li></ul><p class=""><span style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:12pt" class="">But my lesson learned through all of this is that we need to take ownership of our death and the message (word) it brings to others. I have worked on my funeral: like to have the Daily Office liturgy, DH Lawrence’s Not I, Not I But a New Wind Blowing Through Me read, decided what I like to have read from the NT and the OT and who and what would like have sung plus a witness-one being the ICA. For Sally’s Memorial Service her children pulled together a slide show that was fabulous. Need to do that.</span></p><p class=""><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Cambria" class="">I think the basic message is that we need to get our deaths thought through.<br class="">So 3 deaths (actually Sally’s sister died the year before) and a funeral class has</span></p><p class=""><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Cambria" class="">made death up close as a reality. Overwhelming experience; need to bring intentionality and attentionally to our deaths and the death needs to speak the “Word”. So from this experience and dialogue I have joined with others to form a “Death Team” (Pam Bergdall and Seva Gandhi- who says death is always on her mind), We are proposing a quarterly death webinar or more like a death sharing </span><span style="font-family:Cambria;font-size:12pt" class="">circle to get our deaths in shape...it has been said that facing up to death also makes for a better life. What think you?</span></p></div></div></div></div><div class="gmail-page" title="Page 3" style=""><div class="gmail-section"><div class="gmail-layoutArea"><div class="gmail-column"><p class=""><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Cambria" class="">Dick Alton, RS-1, 1968, born December 14, 1941</span></p></div></div></div></div></div><div class=""><br class=""></div>-- <br class=""><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr" class=""><div class=""><div dir="ltr" class=""><div class=""><div dir="ltr" class=""><div class=""><div dir="ltr" class=""><div class=""><div dir="ltr" class=""><div dir="ltr" class=""><div dir="ltr" class=""><div dir="ltr" class=""><div class="">Richard H. T. Alton</div><div class="">One Earth Film Fest ( OEFF)</div><div class="">Green Community Connections</div><div class="">Interfaith Green Network</div><div class="">T: 773.344.7172</div><div class=""><a href="mailto:richard.alton@gmail.com" target="_blank" class="">richard.alton@gmail.com</a></div><div class=""><b class=""><font size="2" class="">*Save the Date! One Earth Film Festival 2019, March 1-10</font></b></div><div class=""><font size="2" class="">http:<a href="http://www.oneearthfilmfestival.org/" target="_blank" class="">www.oneearthfilmfestival.org</a></font></div><div class=""><font size="2" class=""><br class=""></font></div><div class=""><font size="2" class="">Make Plain the Vision, Habakkuh 2:2</font></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>
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