Dash!

On Monday I went to a funeral. Not of a close friend, but a parent of my children's friends, but who was only a year older than me. She was a wonderful, ever friendly, very hard working person, married to a farmer, and who had tried numerous ways to diversify their farming activities away from the Aberdeen Angus herd that were her husband's pride and joy. I admired her from afar really, but her demise has hit me quite hard particularly as her mother was there at the funeral. It just does not seem right when the natural sequence of life is distorted in this way.

There were lots of people at this funeral, with a hundred attendees sitting outside the church just to pay their last respects to this pillar of the local community. The front page of the Order of Service had the date of her birth and the date of her death with just a dash between; the vicar picked up on this fact and recited the following poem "Dash" by Linda Ellis.

The Dash

I read of a man who stood to speak
at the funeral of his friend.
He referred to the dates on her tombstone
from the beginning...to the end.

He noted that first came the date of her birth
and spoke of the second with tears,
but he said that what mattered most of all
was the dash between those years.

For that dash represents all the time
that she spent alive on earth,
and now only those who loved her
know what that little line is worth.

For it matters not, how much we own;
the cars, the house, the cash.
What matters is how we live and love
and how we spend our dash.

So think about this long and hard,
are there things you'd like to change?
For you never know how much time is left.
(You could be at "dash mid-range.")

If we could just slow down enough
to consider what's true and real,
and always try to understand
the way other people feel.

And...be less quick to anger,
and show appreciation more
and love the people in our lives
like we've never loved before.

If we treat each other with respect,
and more often wear a smile,
remembering that this special dash
might only last a little while.

So, when your eulogy is being read
with your life's actions to rehash...
would you be pleased with the things they have to say
about how you spent your dash?

...Linda Ellis

This inspired me because that is what Yourtomorrow is all about. It is trying to create a community of people who are concerned to improve the "dash" of all of us. But do we spend enough time worrying about the way we spend our "dash", or are we too busy chasing rainbows, money, fame and fortune? The funeral and the poem both got me thinking about this!