I was there the day my mother died in a fire, the day my father stopped breathing with cancer, the day my great Dane had a seizure and when the vet gave a shot that stopped the heart of another great Dane. I have seen cats kill birds and robins. We seem to take that personally. Consider. When we rip out a weed, we kill it. When we cut down a tree we kill it. Is one more sacred than another? We play god daily. There is a book from the 60's that says plants feel pain and scream when we prune them. I believe this. I try to remember to be in the moment and to thank the tomatoes that give up their lives to feed me, to the trees that we cut for wood, to the trees I take to open space, to the grapes that make wine, to the hops that make beer. I forget and that bothers me.
Sitting in witness to someone, something dying, to an animal dying or the weed or tree is an honor. We in this age do not respect death. Those that die pass forward to something truly wonderful, yet we are upset, we grieve because death is not a part of lives on a daily basis. People don't die at home we move it away from us. We don't kill that fish or meat We don't honor that animal or plant that gives its life so we might continue ours (for awhile longer). And we don't remember that that mushroom feeds the earth.
What do we need to do to remember that death is all around us? What do we need to do to remember that it is not horrible or scary, terrible. It is a beautiful part of life. Birth/death, the beginning/the end. Both miracles.
