Live Every Day Like It's Your Last - Just Don't Get Caught!
I was involved in Shanti years ago and did about 4 or 5 years doing volunteer work... originally Shanti was under NWAF and so I did volunteer with NWAF and Shanti at the same time, I loved doing the NWAF because I was able to connect to the LGBT community in Seattle and Shanti because I was able to connect to my heart...
Then I dropped out for several years after my client passed away. It was a long time ago, there was a lot there that was different at that time than most volunteers were experiencing with their clients... and also it was tied to taking care of my father who had terminal cancer. But both deaths and the ability to witness them had a common thread and were amazing experiences...
I would say what Shanti prepared me for was to not be afraid to be around death or the process leading up to it. There is still such a taboo and people will often talk around it. There are so many fears, apprehensions, sadness, grief... everything... and that has nowhere to go when the person dying or their loved ones trying to deal with it just stifle it.
I think that is why that I sometimes see a family "falling apart" after someone dies because all the unspoken, all the suppressed emotions come out and sometimes in ways that are damaging.
Of course, if I was faced with my own death I do not know how I would handle that, it's a unique thing for each person... you know those cliché sayings like "the minute we're born we start to die" or something along those lines... have never meant anything to me because it's too disconnected from daily living...
my favorite is "you should live everyday like it's your last" to which I reply "yes but eventually I would have to pay off the charge cards" because I know each day is not necessarily my last and I have to plan for some things, at least, in the future... though my challenge is to stay in the moment...
OK.. there's my philosophy. "live every day like it's your last. but just don't get caught!"
Nathan
Shanti Volunteer
Then I dropped out for several years after my client passed away. It was a long time ago, there was a lot there that was different at that time than most volunteers were experiencing with their clients... and also it was tied to taking care of my father who had terminal cancer. But both deaths and the ability to witness them had a common thread and were amazing experiences...
I would say what Shanti prepared me for was to not be afraid to be around death or the process leading up to it. There is still such a taboo and people will often talk around it. There are so many fears, apprehensions, sadness, grief... everything... and that has nowhere to go when the person dying or their loved ones trying to deal with it just stifle it.
I think that is why that I sometimes see a family "falling apart" after someone dies because all the unspoken, all the suppressed emotions come out and sometimes in ways that are damaging.
Of course, if I was faced with my own death I do not know how I would handle that, it's a unique thing for each person... you know those cliché sayings like "the minute we're born we start to die" or something along those lines... have never meant anything to me because it's too disconnected from daily living...
my favorite is "you should live everyday like it's your last" to which I reply "yes but eventually I would have to pay off the charge cards" because I know each day is not necessarily my last and I have to plan for some things, at least, in the future... though my challenge is to stay in the moment...
OK.. there's my philosophy. "live every day like it's your last. but just don't get caught!"
Nathan
Shanti Volunteer
posted by Rosehedge/Multifaith Works at
10:55 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home