Saying the final farewells, without the sorrows and the tears here, this, is a brand new concept for most of us, translated…
Usually, as we go to pay our final respects to someone who’d lost someone, we’d always carried that heart of sorrow and sadness, and constantly offered those who were survived, our condolences. But as that day I’d gone to my friend’s mother’s funeral, he’d treated his mother’s death like a celebration, told me everything leading up to the moment of her own mother’s death, and it’d made me, grinned ear to ear alongside him too.
After we paid our respects, without giving me enough time to place the incense down, my friend couldn’t wait to sit me down, and hearing him tell the stories from start to end. He’d said, “My mother was lifted away by my father who’d passed on twenty-five years ago.”, and his words caught my attention, and I’d, listened tentatively.
“My father’s death was right around the Chinese memorial days, and when my mother was still alive, she’d told me, ‘your dad surely knew how to pick the dates, dying on the day, and nobody will EVER forget it, and, there’s only the need to prepare ONE set of offerings.’” Turns out, that my friend’s mother was with a strong sense of humor too, and, her optimism had, allowed her to joke about her own husband’s death on his funeral.
“And, I can’t imagine, that twenty-five years later, my mother picked the same day to pass, this odd coincidence surprised all of us, and, after this, I can pay my respects to my deceased parents on the same day!” Based off of what I knew, my friend was the youngest of his family, his mother had nine children, and, he’d been her primary caretaker in her elderly years, and thankfully, his mother was healthy, and it’d allowed him, to fulfill his filial piety duties toward her after his retirement. And so, as his hundred-year-old mother decided it was time to go, my friend didn’t have any regrets, instead, he was more than glad, believed that his parents can finally be together again.
As I bid farewell to my friend, I’d found my steps lighter. Normally, we’d, ushered in a new life with joy, and carried the sorrows and pains as we send someone away, and, if a person can have a party filled with joys before s/he dies, then, s/he is, more than blessed!
And so, because of the elderly parents’ positive attitude toward death from when they were alive, this man naturally, would follow his parents’ examples, seeing death as a celebration of one’s life, instead of feeling loss of his loved ones, this is something that’s brand new to the world, because normally, death is usually associated with loss, sorrows, pains, along with other more negative emotions.