A tribute to Chadwick Boseman and to those whose life crossed path with cancer.
Another star shines ever so brightly over our night sky tonight, prematurely.
I often only snap out from my trip down memory lane with the thought: “the good die young.”
I do still very often converse with The Creator, in my head, I asked: “why not take him home only at 70 years old? That’s a reasonable old age for any good & health-conscious man.”
I lost my father to cancer. He was 58 years old.
And today, still, the good die young. Ever younger.
Man.. all of us who are still here must be a bunch of arseholes. Just saying.
When a strong figure who is the center of your life disappeared just like that, your life crumbles.
But if you had to survive a traumatic loss, you’ll realize that:
turning weak was just momentarily while getting stronger becomes eternal.
You’d think life has changed for you, but the truth is you had changed for life- for the better, though in a way, a little too cruel.
Dad- every child’s original superhero.
Heroes, regardless of who they are, near or far, existent or non-existent, they are souls who inspire us and showed us that a dignified life is possible despite unceasing obstacles.
They are souls who do what is right even in the face of adversity simply because it is the right thing to do.
Ultimately, they showed us that heroes are just souls among us who chose to be their best intrinsic Self.
The Self who is selfless, The Self who experiences everyone else as if Self. Because it is.
Life is really very short for those who live a purposeful one, just as it can be a very miserably long if one lived otherwise.
Hence, the timeless saying by Albert Einstein:
“Time is relative; its only worth depends upon what we do as it is passing.”
The funny thing about life: the harder we try finding the purpose of our life, the vaguer it seems.
But as we start giving meaning to others’ through ours, simply by being ourselves (a good honest human), our purpose starts realizing itself.
Cancer: the beginning, the fight, the end.
I am unfortunately not one of those who has a survival story to tell.
Obviously, my family and I paid the ultimate price. For us, the family- it was the loss of a very dear one & a life we never imagine; for my dad, the fighter- he gave his all.
There is no if, only or but; that’s all there was then and all there is now.
So, through it all, I got some answers to life I’d never asked.
If there is one lesson I learned, it is this:
The only way to not let someone die in vain is to continue their legacy, not of their greatness; but of their kindness and the human-example, they had led.
Chadwick’s fight for equality must continue on with every one of us.
and the elephant in the room is: health is the ultimate wealth.
P.S. This is a difficult write up for me