Celebrating Life

This past saturday (that is Sept. 12th for future readings) I went to the visitation for a friend (his name was Peter) of mine that i had known since quite possibly the third grade. He was my brother's age and thusly more of a friend to him but i still knew him as his brother (Patrick) is a senior at the school a attend and lead snare drummer in our marching band. It was about noon and it was decided that the marching band kids would go right to the front of the line so that we could be on time to rehearsal for the upcoming contest that same day. By chance i happened to be the only guy in the group at the time and the girls i was with i honestly almost consider to be half-sisters in a way, that's just the type of family bond we have in the band. For the whole time i was there i hadn't so much as shed a tear mostly because i was trying to be Superman for them so that i could somehow console them as they were all crying (which is the natural reaction at a funeral visitation.) My simple solemnity was prevailing until i almost got up to patrick. i was a few people from him and my whole body began to shake from the very energy of what was going on in the room.

My lips began trembling, my hands started to shake, and my eyes welled up with tears. So much for Superman eh? i just hugged patrick and let it all loose. it was HIS brother who passed and he was the one consoling me, essentially. After i made myself let go of him as to not hold up the line (there were still a large amount of people as peter knew a vast amount for he and his whole family are extremely kindhearted people and quite possibly the nicest people i've had the pleasure of meeting in my entire 17 years of life). It was then i came to his father, who sparked the title for this entry. He looked at me and smiled and hugged me. Patrick's father put his hands on my shoulders and looked me right in the eyes. He said, "Levi, you musn't be sad about death, for you must celebrate life. You must go to the contest tonight and play your best and honor the memory of Peter by celebrating life." That's when things clicked for me. It was the proverbial turning point in my life, the epiphony that sparked the lightbulb. For too many times in our lives we view life from a negative aspect. Stress, drama, conflict, sadness, anger, jealousy, and death.

However if we view the bright aspects of life and understand that death is simply another step in the life cycle, then it helps take away the despair and sadness that is most commonly attributed to it. To avoid misinterpretation i'm not saying that death is good by any means and what happened to Peter was a great tragedy, but Peter was someone who was celebrating his life and having fun. It could be seen in all the pictures that were in the visitation room. So if we honor our friends and family who have passed by celebrating life aspects such as: friendship, happiness, fun, relaxation, love, and life itself, then it makes the bad things in life seem absolutely shallow and trivial. I don't remember who said it (heck it might have been in the Bible i'm not sure) but someone stated "do not be sad because they died, rejoice because they lived" (actually that sounds a lot like what Patrick and Peter's father said to me on saturday now that i think of it) and that is exactly what i'm going to do. celebrate life.