A Dark And Hopeful Road
I’ve said it a hundred times, the universe made a fucking mistake.
It wasn’t his time, it couldn’t have been. He had just started to enjoy the foundation he’d worked hard to build, sometimes against his will. And, eventually, he blossomed with a wisdom that echoed into the lives of so many others - others he didn’t even know.
Someone said, I find funerals to be a weird celebration, almost making everyone a saint, even when they weren’t. I understand this. I understand seeing where someone went left when we clearly knew they should have gone right, when they took a literal wrong turn from which there is no return.
But that’s not the point. The point of celebrating a person’s life is to remind us no one is all good or all bad. Humans are an imperfect, messy experiment of the universe intended to discover what happens when we realize there are no perfect paths, only crooked, broken roads we must learn to navigate to the best of our ability. That’s actually not as dark as it sounds. In fact, it’s quite hopeful. It means every turn, left right, or wrong, has possibility. There’s always another opportunity to learn from the past as you choose your next step.
Funerals are a celebration and acknowledgment that every life holds hope. Every soul leaves a mark. How we choose to see that soul’s purpose or legacy is a reflection of our own.
That’s why the universe made a mistake. He had just started basking in the glow of this, the freedom of knowing he had more hope and possibility to share. His grace, compassion, and wisdom, echoed into the lives of others also trying to discover their next turn.
I don’t believe in pre-determined paths, or everything happens for a reason. I believe when things happen we are to discover purpose in moving forward, not as means to define an event.
Our roads, all of us, are broken with mangled tree branches blocking our way, a foundation aged with crevices worn deep by the storms of our life. That’s the road thus far. What lies ahead is unknown, no ChatGPT or AI can write these directions. The permutations are infinitely infinite. And that is truly hopeful. Yes, you will encounter roadblocks, dead ends, and moments so dark it will seem as though the wire has not been tripped but severed.
He had discovered hope and was considering all the permutations open to him. The curiosity and desire to start exploring through college and work experience. Always the friend to bring hope to others who fell into the dark crevices.
And so, while I believe what I wrote about infinite permutations and hope, the universe made a fucking mistake. And now I have to figure out what to do next.