the beginning

last Tuesday my whole life took a strange turn... something that has been kept in the darkest corner of my heart, mind and soul for too long, and now finally made it's way to the surface.

last Tuesday I had my first day of school, a different type of school, that type of educational institution that you didn't even believe existed! I myself didn't even acknowledge it's existence till not too long ago, and finally worked up the courage to "undertake" this kind of field. Alas I'm going to the American Academy McAllister Institute of Funeral Service here in NY, to become a funeral home director/mortician/undertaker... you may ask "why?", that's pretty much the first question anyone has asked me in total disbelief every time I attempt to mention my new calling.

well, why not? people die all the time, it's something you can count on.

And at the age of 25, fortunately, I can't say that I've had to deal directly with the notion of "Death", with the exception of the loss of an adored pet or of a family friend. I have on the other hand nurtured a certain curiosity and awareness towards it, so like most of the major poets, novelists, philosophers, I have also delved into the meaning of death and have explored such a sense of death nearing and opening. Death is an inevitable event that in one way or another, will take place in all our lives. It humbles us because it is the ultimate certainty in our otherwise confused and unsure existence.
I also can't say that I've experienced grieving the loss of a loved one. But I can say that grief in its first stages is a kind of madness: for what can cause more pain and despair then losing someone close and important to you? FOREVER no less?

A corpse, in its grave stillness, is actually extremely dynamic, since it incarnates the events of passage taking place right before our very eyes. In its silence it incorporates the passage from a living, thinking, feeling being, to a stone cold body that resembles who it once was from the experience of life to the end of it; from all those people who were accustomed and reassured by its presence, to all of a sudden having to deal with its absence. Dealing with death is a learning process, and a humbling one to say the least; so in order to help one handle such deep sorrow, empathy and compassion, among other virtues, are vital to this passage.

this is the beginning, of what I hope will be a fascinating experience...