As I walked up to the Mission Viejo City Center, a number of large banners caught my eyes picturing soldiers who had “given their lives in the line of duty”. The majority were only 19 or 20 years old with some as old as 38. A picture, mostly of men in uniforms graced the upper portion of the banners, with a brief bio in the lower half, i.e. “father, son, friend, loved sports, would do anything for his friends/family”. My heart sank as I took in the banners and thought about these seemingly unfulfilled lives. I tried to give thought to how we got to the point of killing others for their ideals, but this felt like a bottomless pit which I wasn’t in the mood to jump in to.
I recently went to a theatre with my parents to see the movie “Heaven is for Real”. This is the (true) story of a four year old Nebraskan boy (Colton Burpo), whose parents are deeply religious Christians (the father is a reverend) who during an operation, goes to heaven. The boy talks about meeting Jesus, a sister who was stillborn and his great grandfather. Heaven is like earth only more beautiful and everyone is young. The film also portrays a woman whose son, at the age of 19 was killed while serving in the military (and who Colton also meets in heaven).
My mom took comfort from watching “Heaven is for Real”, knowing that there might be some place to relieve her suffering in her current earthly form, as well as, allay her fears about what comes next. I feel that she also hopes to see my sister who died some 30 years ago.
As far as human beings go my mother (81) and father (85) have lived long, full lives. As I’ve matured and become more fully cognizant and empathetic, I have a fuller picture of what they’ve been through at least the later years. Although my parents live in a beautiful environment, it seems that their life-long emotional trials, especially for my mom, have come home to roost. This isn’t easy to experience or deal with, especially for my father. My mother literally wears her emotions all over her body; one never knows what will set her off. My dad takes it in, tries to be stoic, but you can see the toll that this has taken on him by looking at his body and how he reacts verbally to his mother passing away when he was 14, having a difficult step mother and having lived with my mom for 60+ years. Does the thought of going to heaven offer them something better?
I’ve never had any friends in the States who were part of the military, someone willing to lay down their life for the ideals of their country, or thought that they had so few options (or maybe just didn’t know what to do next) in terms of college or a career that they enlisted in the military.
How do individuals get to the point of being able to (legitimately?) kill or hurt others? Do a person’s religious beliefs enable them to feel that even though they might have killed, if they are killed, they will go to heaven? What happens to military people in heaven, do they lose their thoughts of and ability to kill others? Does heaven accept everyone, even those who have committed horrendous crimes against others?
My parents and I joked about how crowded heaven would be if everyone whoever died was there. I’m not totally sure about how I feel about heaven and how much my life should be focused on getting there. Will I really see friends and family whom I’ve loved? Or is it that we live our lives, now, in heaven, but we don’t necessarily realize this? Does it make a difference to those us who spend our lives “serving” and helping others?
I know that my body won’t continue in its present state in perpetuity; my body still remains strong but overtime it is breaking down. Also as I “see” my parents and other elderly people, I’m looking into a mirror. However in some sense I feel that the proverbial “I” will continue as long as our life stories are passed onto others. Maybe that is really the key to heaven, serving on this earth, being kind to others so that memories of each of us continues.
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