Ifee
Dear God,
My daughter asked me a very strange question. “What is death Mummy”? I simply stared at her. Death ke? Of all theories to explain, Death? “Why are people so scared of it”? She continued. Ewoo! Dad, I must confess that I panicked at first, then it struck me, this is my chance to demystify “Death” for my children and teach them the lesson I didn’t learn on time. I remember my first encounter with death, I believe that marked my attitude to it till date. I was quite young and a big cousin that lives few houses away from us had died. Right in the middle of the night I heard a piercingly terrified scream, it was at the highest pitch ever, gust renting, agonizing. I jumped out of bed, every hair on me stood straight. I ran blindly to my mum but before I could reach her, she was echoing the same loud and mesmerizing cry. All around me a loud wailing choir emerged in echoes of fear and pain. For days I could not sleep. That cry stayed in my head for a long time. Then my father died, same scene, another cousin, my friend’s dad, Grandma, aunt…..etc. Every time death struck, all around me people wailed in hopeless fear and pain. And ultimately, I associated death to pain and fear.
But should it be so? Should Death be that fearful? The good book tells me that “to die is gain”. Dad, if I die, I get to see You live! Yes? Live in that awesome mansion and sing Hallelujah every day. Yes? I transit from a temporary to a permanent resident of heaven. Why! That’s awesome not fearful. I sat my daughter on my laps and painted an amazing picture of heaven for her. We had fun googling some stuff and I made her realise that Yes, you will miss the person that died but you should also be happy because they just got a resident permit to heaven.
Dad, I really don’t know if I did a good job of it, but I am sure grateful for that opportunity to talk about it with her. We will live so well that when the time comes, we will accept our visa to You with joy.
This is Your daughter, I am checking in.
