I came upon
this in Ray Bradbury’s book Somewhere a
Band is Playing, and it struck me that there I was raising Lazarus, just as
he stated in his book. I could see him, hear him, his words swam, circled,
soared. I was riding a Pegasus. Visions came, lessons too.
"The great ‘medicine’,”
he wrote, “was finding that we were alive and
loving it. We have celebrated every day of our lives. The celebration, the
exhilaration, of worshipping the gift, has kept us young. Does that sound
impossible? By simply knowing you’re alive and looking at the sun and enjoying
the weather and speaking it every moment of your existence, this ensures our
longevity.”
I know someone
such as he is describing. She is 92 with a phone message that says, “I may be
here or I may be out in the Universe having fun.” It’s hard to get her on the
phone for normally she is out in the Universe having fun. She takes painting
lessons, and has a weekly movie date day, and walks her dog, and drives her
car.
I think of a
story I read told by Deepak Chopra. A man wanted a son more than anything. God
gave him two choices: one the son would be healthy but not too bright. The
other, a bright son, but the son would die on his 21st birthday.
He took the
bright son.
He never
told the son about the agreement with God. One the son’s 21st birthday the father
told his son to stay by his side, but in fairy tale fashion, the father was
called away for a few moments.
The son, as
was his honor to do so, went to the church to thank God for his life. Unbeknownst
to him the angel of death was behind him and ready to throw a noose that would snare
him and thus take him to the other side. As the angel threw the noose, the son bowed,
thanking God for his life. The noose feel upon his back and slipped off. In that manner, thanking God for his life,
the son cheated death.
And the
people in Bradbury’s story, with their celebration of life, stayed young.
And children sit by on
the stone floor
And draw out their
lives in the sand.
Remembering deaths that
won’t happen
In futures unseen in
far lands.
Somewhere a band is
playing
Where the moon never
sets in the sky
And nobody sleeps in
the summer
And nobody puts down to
die;
--Ray Bradbury