the ties that bind --- 7 november 1999
nikholas "katana" f. toledo

i went to mass today and this was what the sermon was all 
about.  i like the priest who delivered this; he may be indian 
and his accent sometimes makes his speech all but 
unintelligible but he's very well-read and smart as hell.  
(hmm, was that an appropriate thing to say?)  anyway, last 
effort of my sembreak.  good luck to me and my second semester.

no ties to the living after we ourselves pass on, no way to leave a part of ourselves behind?
with all due respect, i'd like to disagree with the good reverend.
it may really sound ever so dramatic, but not to my ears.
how can we not leave even the littlest traces of ourselves behind
when the normal human life interacts with so many others,
so many existences weaving together into an interconnected mesh of joys and sorrows
and all of our other emotions in their wide-spanning spectrum?
(it's a great big spider's web that encloses the whole world within its gossamer strength.)
how can we not leave our words behind
when they serve to brighten others' days, encourage family and friends, goad them to their goals?
(for some, the best way to push others to reach for the stars is with disparaging words and criticism.)
how can we not leave our gestures behind
when hugs and kisses and other such fundamental things convey more love than the most eloquent words that 
      the poets have at their command?
(i guess i count in that as well, even if i'm not even so deft with my words.)
how can we not leave our thoughts behind 
when with them we contribute to the intellectual growth of the human race as a whole, and to our own 
      selves in particular?
(the great men of old still influence us, how's that for longevity?)
how can we not leave our own blood behind
when it flows in our family and offspring and other kith and kin
and will continue to influence even our farthest descendants for as long as they live, even in their 
      descendants' descendants?
(blood, genes and dna last much further than anyone thinks, at least their constituent atoms.)
i believe that the average human life continues in a sense even after the earthly body has died
and been embraced back into the earth or fired to ashes or consigned to the sea.
life always springs eternal in one way or another, 
continuing to make a difference in the interconnecting web of lives touched and affected and influenced,
even if all it means is an occasional thought during the rarest long and dark nights of the remaining souls.
life was never meant to end with death,
which is often just another stage of existing on another plane entirely, depending on what religion you 
      subscribe to.
i believe that we live on even after we close our eyes in the eternal sleep,
still interacting with those who were left behind albeit it's far less noticeable
because of the "barriers" between the material and the spiritual planes,
but the connections made in life cannot be severed so easily even in death.
beyond death is another kind of life,
we just don't know what's on the other side because the passage is an irreversible one.
death is life is death is life.  enough said.