Journey To A Graveyard
Sunday morning of July 19, 2023, I woke up realizing how bless I am to have witnessed another beautiful day. As I thought of all the people who recently died from an invisible demon called Coronavirus, it made me feel even more blessed! To show my gratitude and appreciation of life, I decided to get up, get dressed, grab a quick bite of food and take advantage of this unmerited privilege that have been granted me.
My first mission was to travel to my local church and place my “tithe” in the Church Tithing
Box. This process came about when many churches shut down because of coronavirus invasion. Once I placed my tithe in its perspective place, I decided to take a visit to my church’s graveyard, which is adjacent to the church. I had this strong desire to visit the graveyard! It was as if special family members were beckoning me to come and see what the “stillness of life” is about as they lie in their respective places; come and witness the quietness of a community of church members, families, friends and neighbors who once were able to show appreciation of life, but along the way had been called to a shadow of darkness with no return.
Once entering the gate to the graveyard, I couldn’t help but noticed that many of the tombstones lying about had been infiltrated with grown parasites known as “moss” or “fern”. To me, this setting was proof of a legacy of history of community families that have been lying in the quietness of this “graveyard setting” for many, many years, uninterrupted by the affairs of the world and visitation of neighbor who happen to pay homage to their garden, even long before I was given life.
As I slowly strolled through this quiet setting of known and unknown warriors, my first stop was at a known gravesite of our oldest daughter, a warrior who had battled diabetes for many years until finally, one day, the invisible demon took a stronghold over her that forced her to succumb to its force, which was death. WE TRULY MISS HER!
The quietness in a graveyard ushers a spirit of solidarity among all present. I shall refer to this as the agenda of the day or a table setting of “quietness and stillness”; a moment to remind me that all present here were deceased. As I continued to involve my mind and spirit into this historical saga, I also was able to witness the beauty of life from other living creatures as they displayed “thankfulness of life” throughout the graveyard garden. A beautiful brown sparrow sat in a youthful looking oak tree that had sprung up unto the graveyard. Its melody of music rang out into the atmosphere and, as it shouted to the world its best performance, it was another reminder to me how precious life is and how one shouldn’t take life for granite. Only I was able to appreciate this sparrow performance, while those around continue to maintain their stillness of life as they slept in their respective places. Other live creatures showed their appreciation of life in this community setting of “stillness of life”. Butterflies moving around fluttering their wings gave notice to me that, even though you are in a place where life has ended for those around you, beauty and appreciation of life should not only be seen among living human being but every living creature that is part of this universe.
My visit to my church graveyard on that particular day made me realize that one day I will be lying with those in a same or similar setting who are demonstrating the “stillness of life”, and who will not be able to hear the brown sparrow sing or the fluttering of the butterflies as they rustle their dainty wings.
Florence S. Young
