How does one begin to write the final chapter of their Life, knowing that the last two words, THE END, will be added by someone other than themselves?
I have escaped the scythe of the Grim Reaper on so many occasions, in previous chapters of my Life, and it would be nice to think I could do it again… however, luck is limited, while death is inevitable, and eventually, everyone’s number will be called.
Don’t misunderstand me; I am not afraid of death. I have been around it most of my Life… from battlefield deaths in Vietnam, murder and suicide in Gallup, gun and machete fights in Honduras, and illnesses like HIV, AIDS, and COVID in Cambodia. I have witnessed many Souls, young and old, leave their physical forms, often holding their hands, as they pass through the Veil. The dying process itself does not worry me, though sometimes the uncertainty of when or how it will happen can weigh on my thoughts.
About regrets, I have a few… but my biggest disappointment in Life is that I have never fully understood its essence. For example, why does good never seem to triumph over evil? I grasp the Yin-Yang idea that they balance each other, but after spending most of my Life fighting evil, I question if I was mistaken—since the more I resisted evil, the more of it I encountered. Would doing less good have created less evil?
We are living in confusing times, and much of the information we are given seems intentionally deceptive. Who deceives, and why, remains a mystery I’ll carry with me. Until then, I think it’s best to devote the remainder of the time I have left to simply earning a hug, a kiss on the cheek, or seeing a smile on someone’s face because of something I have done or said. Perhaps this surrender is, after all, the long-sought-after answer to my quest for finding purpose in my existence… and when my path dissolves into the stars, my destiny will no longer be a burden but a gift—measured not in battles fought, but in the smiles that I leave behind.