It was a warm sunny day, (insert cliche here) during the summer of 2018 and I was pursuing the local expressway where all the food in town mainly presides. Then the strangest thing happened. Hit with a craving for a food that I had not eaten for over 10 years. It was odd, I shook off the feeling then it came back harder. So I cave to the influence and pull into the drive. I felt the need to sit down and enjoy the food, and proceeded to go inside.
Once in, the barley non-existent line had only a woman and her two children who were trying to determine what the catch of the day would be. While I shrugged off the cool sense of familiarity and stared at the menu. This place is a place that is believed to be kept in business by a hidden group in society, of aged and wise people. I tend to believe it as I never really remember seeing the place busy. However, it became my turn jaring me back to reality I casually move to the counter and order my classic I use to love. I’d Like the 2 fish meal with coleslaw and fries please.
Yep, we are talking about Captian D’s. The man, not much older than me rings up my order and I hand him my card. He looks at my name curiously, and with a joyful smile asked If I was related to [Insert my grandmothers name here]. I smiled. At this point in time she had been dead for atleast 7 years and I believed that all people expect my immediate family didnt know about her. She was a wonderful women that loved to help people and the community. Working in a nursing home her whole life, until forced retirement at the age of 82, may have been a few years off here.
Memories began to flood in, this is the place that we would eat every friday for lent when I would stay with my great aunt/uncle or my Grandma. The childlike feeling of comfort overwhelmed me and I proudly said yes. The man proceeded to tell me about his interactions with my grandma and how she was a wonderful woman that will be missed. I expressed the same thoughts and took my number and went to sit down and ponder my past and the memories that were etched into the fabric of my being.
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The point of this is, that today, 4 years later I am reminded of this moment out of the blue. It sparked questions about Immortality and the nature of who we are after we die. Our ancestors are always with us, through memories and the imprints of what is left on others. Bigger than that though, they are left in the environment. The causal effect of their contributions to the world, however small, reverberates through space and time and has an immortal representation of themselves.
As I sit here and ponder the nature of immortality, the neil gaimen thought “Gods die when they are forgotten”. I realize that immortality is true, we are all immortal. Not in the since of living in a physical body forever but our lasting impressions are spun out through creation and spawn new creations and new effects based on our past. The “Ancestors are alive within us” and around us, the immortal essence of creation that made each of us who we are today.
We must embrace this and realize that our actions of today are immortal, and the consequences are far out reaching than we can cognitively understand. And maybe that is why we should work with our ancestors more, as their vision is more clear after piercing the veil.
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