by Dino Crescini
Early this month, not just the Filipino nation but the entire world, grieved the death of former Philippine president Corazon Cojuangco Aquino. She died of a lingering ailment that caused physical pain on her body as well as mental anguish on immediate members of her family.
News about her colon cancer prompted no less than the Pope to send her a comforting message. When she died on August 1, American president Barack Obama sent her family his own personal message of condolences.
But should death really be a fearsome topic to discuss or even worry about? Radical Muslims who commit suicide in the name of jihad certainly don’t fear death. They believe that the killing of infidels (non-believers of Islam) will deliver their mortal bodies to a better place, to be welcomed by at least 14 virgins.
Back at the Intensive Care Unit of Loyola University Hospital in Chicago, where my only brother was confined for colon cancer, I witnessed how much suffering he endured. He refused to die because he was waiting for me and my sister from overseas. When I visited him in 2008, I asked him to wait for me. And so he waited, sometimes refusing shots of morphine that would have brought him to a coma.
His pain pierced my heart so much that I prayed to God to take him. And God was so merciful that he took my younger brother within that same hour.
But there is another way of looking at death. It is really a celebration of one’s life. We look back and reminisce the happy times we shared with the person who has gone ahead. We recall how he touched our lives, the changes caused by that person. Life would never be the same without him.
One thing is certain. We will all die. We just don’t know when. Life on this earth was never meant to be permanent. It is supposed to be our gateway to heaven. What we have done in the past, what we do today and what we do tomorrow will earn us points toward attainment of eternal life. Whether it is eternal bliss or perdition is entirely up to us. God gave us the freedom to choose between good and evil.
My brother Roberto Crescini has died but he will remain alive in my heart for as long as I live.