Dreaming, waking, living, dying

Emily Dickinson, in her pithy way, exclaimed, "Life is but life and death but death." Every day we stand in one, and sometimes one foot in each. This week is my "memento mori" word, remember you must die. For me, the past week witnessed the "farewell for now" of several people I was connected to in various ways. One resident of Brookdale who attended our weekly church services unexpectedly passed on. I say unexpectedly even though we know, as in "Unforgiven," Clint Eastwood says, "We all got it coming." It isn't an ultimate surprise; we just didn't think it would happen this week. My brother-in-law also went on. Even though he struggled with physical issues, we still had no idea this would be his week. I heard the news in a Facebook post the first roommate I had in Bible School, a friend from the same church in Baltimore, left this world. Then there were the usual one or two from our work at RC Hospice. That is less of a surprise but still, when it happens, it is news and affects us. And of course there are the celebrities and such, like George Foreman. We have some sort of cultural connection to a few of these people. Those of us who remain continue walking, living. We have received the gift of a new day. We don't presume to know how many more we shall receive. Look, here comes another breath. The Bible uses the word "appointment" in Hebrews 9:27 to assert that "it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment." Some propose the concept that all of us are actually asleep during our time here on earth, sleepwalking as it were. If so, then we truly wake up after the end of it. Thus, Shakespeare has Prospero say in The Tempest, "We are all made of dreams." In "Sh-Boom," The Chords proposed, "Life could be a dream." Poe asked, in one of his poems, "Is all that we see or seem but a dream within a dream?" And Lewis Carroll added in his own poem, "Life, what is it but a dream." If you are going to "row, row, row your boat gently down the stream," remember to do it merrily because, "Life is but a dream." Now wake up and live, and live for God. Tom Rupp is a Folsom resident and weekly Telegraph columnist. You can reach him at truppfolsom@yahoo.com.