Teach Me

I received an E-mail from a co-worker telling me Mara had passed away after a year long fight with cancer. I was trying to figure out who she was as I didn't remember working with her, or on Mara's Team. Then I followed the link and remembered. She was six years old.

Richard knew of her through his local kindergarten, and he had participated in the American Cancer Society Relay for Life. I made a modest donation and remembered looking at the web site at that time. I sincerely wished her well, but didn't follow her progress as things did not look hopeful. I didn't have the heart at the time.

Even so I'm shedding tears now, while realizing that being a soft touch is better than not being able to shed a tear. I wish could have done more, and yet know there was nothing I could have done. It looks like there was a lot of support there, and while I pray nothing like that will happen to people I know, it reminds me tragedy doesn't often RSVP. I believe I would be one of those people giving support. If nothing more than playing and reading with them. I've found children enjoy those interchanges as much as I do.

I don't understand what it means to be at the end of life, and I expect I'm at least half way there with time rushing past the windows of my soul. It breaks our hearts when we see someone so young facing that which we avoid dwelling on as long as we can.

The few times I've interacted with or seen children in an end of life situation I've seen more acceptance and peace than I can imagine having myself. We have a whole medical industry based on emptying estates of the very old for a few extra weeks in misery -- something I was a little surprised my stepmom, a geriatric nurse, seemed to heartily sympathise with me on. We grown-ups refuse to accept that which cannot be changed and grasp onto no-quality life rather than celebrating the good we've experienced. Perhaps we have much, much more to learn from young children in that situation than we have to teach them.