Birth=Beginning, Death=Destination EULOGY by Alvin I. Fine

Birth is a Beginning

Birth is a beginning.  And death a destination.  And life is a journey:  From childhood to maturity and youth to age; from innocence to awareness And ignorance to knowing; from foolishness to discretion.  And then perhaps to wisdom; from weakness to strength or strength to weakness-and, often back again; from health to sickness and back, we pray, to health again; from offense to forgiveness, From loneliness to love, and joy to gratitude, from pain to compassion, And grief to understanding-From fear to faith; From defeat to defeat to defeat-Until, looking backward or ahead, We see that victory lies, Not at some high place along the way, But in having made the journey, stage by stage, A sacred pilgrimage.  Birth is a beginning and death a destination.  But life is a journey, a sacred pilgrimage-
                                                             To life everlasting.

~ Alvin I. Fine

Live The Dash, Years Between Birth & Death, Well / Poem by Linda Ellis

The Dash

by Linda Ellis

 

 

I read of a man who stood to speak
At the funeral of a friend

 

He referred to the dates on her tombstone
From the beginning to the end

 

He noted that first came her date of her birth
And spoke the following date with tears,

 

But he said what mattered most of all
Was the dash between those years

 

For that dash represents all the time
That she spent alive on earth.

 

And now only those who loved her
Know what that little line is worth.

 

For it matters not how much we own;
The cars, the house, the cash,

 

What matters is how we live and love
And how we spend our dash.

 

So think about this long and hard.
Are there things you’d like to change?

 

For you never know how much time is left,
That can still be rearranged.

 

If we could just slow down enough
To consider what’s true and real

 

And always try to understand
The way other people feel.

 

And be less quick to anger,
And show appreciation more

 

And love the people in our lives
Like we’ve never loved before.

 

If we treat each other with respect,
And more often wear a smile

 

Remembering that this special dash
Might only last a little while.

 

So, when your eulogy is being read
With your life’s actions to rehash

 

Would you be proud of the things they say
About how you spent your dash?