It's Christmas, a day to celebrate the life of Jesus. In reality it is a celebration of life for all of us. All civilizations celebrate the Winter Soltice, the return of the Sun, the day when the days start getting longer. For the short lives we live, the seasons, the sun, the cycle of the planets - all of these things appear to go on forever, to be immortal.
The problem is that it is not that simple, whether you have ALS or not.
The rock band Queen did a song for the movie Highlander called "Who Wants To Live Forever". It is a lament where the lead character, an immortal, is watching his wife, a mortal, age and die. His heart is in pain with the sorrow of immortality. He, for one, doesn't want to live forever, but he is cursed to do so.
The lyrics are very simple. The start with the recognition of the incongruity of their love, that love between the two of them has no place or time where it can truly exist. What follows is the plaintive question; "Who wants to live forever?" Then the lyrics reach a revelation, that love lives forever and that one day of loving someone is worth an eternity.
My life is like that. All those around me are immortal. They will not fade as I will fade. I will go and they will be left behind. Yet I too ask the question. My reality is that I am simply waiting for my mortal moment, for that day when I will leave and others will stay behind.
There is one line in the song that really sums it all up; "Forever is our today". My today is my forever. Every day I get to live is another forever. Every day that I get to be with those I love and those who love me is my forever. I can wait for death to come tomorrow.
Today I am alive, immortal. Who waits forever anyway?
Oh My gosh, MR. Now you're becoming a poet! Keep it up!
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