I was reading Life in the Balance by Thomas Graboys, MD, who is a nationally renowned Boston cardiologist. He not only took care of the hearts of his patients, but also their souls. In his foreword, Peter Zheutlin said,
“…what truly set Tom apart was his uncommon humanity, his intense concern for what ailed the hearts and the souls of his patients, and his unstinting generosity with his time. Despite the crushing workload he carried on his shoulders, no patient was ever rushed and no patient concern was ever belittled. A patient’s annual follow-up with Tom always ran for an hour or so, unheard of in this era of managed care. After each examination, Tom would sit, knee to knee with the patient, on a small sofa in his office and talk. He never interposed his desk. He treated you as equal.”
I respect and salute people who walked their talk! I’m quoting the above as my way of honouring a Dr. Thomas Graboys who was a great doctor, which can be so rare these days.
What also caught my attention when I was reading the book was a poem about death he found solace in. I, too, found these words comforting. Death is one heavy topic which some avoid, including myself at time, and yet it is journey everyone will take whether one chooses to or not.
I was chatting to a friend recently on Facebook and she was telling me about someone she knows in UK who is already starting to plan for his death and he was only in his twenties then. A thought immediately came to my mind then, “If we keep planning for our death, would we ever learn to truly live our life to the fullest?”
Death is a positive reminder that we would not be living forever; the time will come naturally or it may just creep up on us when we least expect. Death is just part of the whole package of living.
When the time comes for us, we will move from this end into a new beginning; “… I have only slipped away into the next room … I am I and you are you…” This poem is comforting as it described death as sort of a ‘new beginning’ that one takes on; death is not an end. I wish anyone who have lost could also find comfort in this poem.
Death is nothing at all
I have only slipped away into the next room
I am I and you are you
Whatever we were to each other
That we are still
Call me by my old familiar name
Speak to me in the easy way you always used
Put no difference into your tone
Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow
Laugh as we always laughed
At the little jokes we always enjoyed together
Play, smile, think of me, pray for me
Let my name be ever the household word that it always was
Let it be spoken without effort
Without the ghost of a shadow in it
Life means all that it ever meant
It is the same as it ever was
There is absolute unbroken continuity
What is death but a negligible accident?
Why should I be out of mind
Because I am out of sight?
I am waiting for you for an interval
Somewhere very near
Just around the corner
All is well.
Nothing is past; nothing is lost
One brief moment and all will be as it was before
How we shall laugh at the trouble of parting when we meet again!
I took this picture of a blooming flower from a plant I have outside my home about two months ago. My mother is the one who is keeping it and I have no idea the name of the plant. For almost 4 years I have never seen any flowers blooming from it. However, about two months ago, it surprised me with this beautiful flower. I just have to take a shot of it with my Sony Cyber-shot camera phone. Yes, this camera phone can produce some decent shots.
There may be question in your head, “Why ‘Life and Death’ in the title?” When I was taking shots of the flower, I noticed a green bud next to it; promising yet another beautiful bloom - another life. One life was moving towards the end and the other was just coming into life. Is it ‘Life beginning at the ending of another’ or is it ‘Life ending at the beginning of another?’
Like ‘Chicken or Egg?’ Frankly, does it really matter whichever come first. Most importantly was that the flower bloomed beautifully for when it was time for it to bloom. Such is the work of nature, to keep the cycle going. The plant does not question what nature has for it. Until the next bloom, the cycle continues everywhere around us, everyday, every hour, every minute and every second.
This is specially dedicated to anyone who has lost a pet. I couldn’t lie to say that I understood what you had gone through since I did not own and lost any pet before. But I sincerely hope that you can find the strength to move on from the words and song. And one day, you will be reunited with your pets at the Rainbow Bridge.
The Rainbow Bridge Poem
When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge. There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together. There is plenty of food and water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable. All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor; those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by.
The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing: they miss someone very special to them; who had to be left behind. They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. The bright eyes are intent; the eager body quivers. Suddenly he begins to break away from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster. YOU have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.
Do you know now that I must be going
To a place full of happy memories
In an emerald meadow by a Rainbow Bridge
You can hear heaven’s anthem on the breeze
Well, a heavenly light falls around me
In a twinkling my youth has been restored
Over green hills and valleys once again I roam free
Like the days when on eagle’s wing we soared
I’m surrounded by many companions
And together we pass our pleasant days
Every need is provided, there is nothing I lack
Save for you to whose memory my heart strays
When you’re heaven-bound
There’s a place you pass through
Called the Rainbow Bridge,
I’ll be waiting there for you
Yes, I’ll be waiting for you
With a heart that’s tried and true
Till the day I can feel , once again,
Your arms around me
Fare thee well now for I must be going
Dry your tears, no you must not cry for me
Till the day that we meet again at long journey’s end
At the Rainbow Bridge,
You know that’s where I’ll be
Today, I would like to share with you the theme song from the movie Departures (Okuribito) by Yojiro Takita. It won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 2009 Oscars. This is probably the best movie I have watched this year. It touches on one of the taboo subjects in Japan and yet the director had sensitively and beautifully brought out the subject. The theme song by Joe Hisaishi is simply enchanting and powerfully moving.
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I was reading Life in the Balance by Thomas Graboys, MD, who is a nationally renowned Boston cardiologist. He not only took care of the hearts of his patients, but also their souls. In his foreword, Peter Zheutlin said, 
This is specially dedicated to anyone who has lost a pet. I couldn’t lie to say that I understood what you had gone through since I did not own and lost any pet before. But I sincerely hope that you can find the strength to move on from the words and song. And one day, you will be reunited with your pets at the Rainbow Bridge.
