Literary Mentors At Their Best
“If I die…I’ll let you weep, mom. But, I’m gonna live on.”-Anakin
Following the “safer at home” order in California, excursions outside have consisted of essential grocery runs for Trader Joes‘ Orange Juice with extra pulp and the very much coveted Chocolate Brooklyn Babka bread. Once in a while, my daughters and I traverse outside our home at 10pm for a stroll. The streets are usually eerily silent void of happy night time snackers and after dinner coffee drinkers. We live in the city center of a town that has a famous outdoor shopping complete with a gold statued waterfall. Even The Spirit of American Youth Rising from the Waves has become a victim of the Covid-19 with no spectators admiring its regal pose. While walking block by block, I mentioned to my younger kid that I felt sad about the deaths of so many people. Explaining that we live in a time of history that is filled with uncertainty, we humans have had to come face to face with how frail and finite we really are. I go on to tell her that one day she may tell her own kids about the famous event in 2020 where the world stopped in its tracks. My 15-year old begins to tell me that this time is not actually very different from many other bleak periods of history like the Black Plague, World War II, and 9/11. My astute daughter goes into a monologue of all the reasons I shouldn’t be surprised that this has happened. I pipe in with the comment that I was afraid the virus would make people I care sick or worse, die. I would be very sad and devastated if that happened.
In a very matter-of-fact tone, I hear this reply: “If I die…I’ll let you weep, mom. But I won’t be gone. Only my mortal body might leave but I’m gonna live on. My dying is not the end, mom. I’ll be in heaven. It will be so much better.” Anakin continues on by saying that she understands that I wished we weren’t living in such a time like this by quoting a line from The Lord of The Rings when Frodo lamented about dark times in Middle Earth: “I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo. “So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.” (The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of The Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien)
As we continued walking towards home, while trying to ponder on the words of the great Gandalf, Anakin offers me yet another nugget and quotes Cecil Gershwin Palmer’s prose, “The past is gone, and cannot harm you anymore. And while the future is fast coming for you, it always flinches first and settles in as the gentle present.” (Can be found in podcast and book, Welcome To Nightvale-Joseph Fink).
As we enter our small ice-box of an apartment, I marvel at the wisdom of a child and thank the Good Lord that I taught this child to read at four years old. It has paid off. Her literary mentors come alive to teach an adult a few lessons on perspective.
una pausa dolce 