I accompanied my nieces to the cemetery to show them the location of the gravestones of our loved ones. As we got home, I started thinking of those dashes in the tombstones and I recall fourteen years ago, during the celebration of the Aklan Press Freedom Week, where we were joined by the (THEN) Asst. Ombudsman for the Visayas, Atty. Virginia Palanca- Santiago, and she read to us this poem titled "The Dash."
I read of a man who stood to speak at the funeral of a 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: December 16, 1937 - July 22, 1999, and spoke the following date with a tear.
He said what matters most of all, was the dash between those years, for the dash represents all the time that she spent alive on earth, and now only those who loved her know what the little line is worth.
It Can Still Be Rearranged
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 that can still be re-arranged.
“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 action to rehash… would you be proud of the things they say, about how you spend your dash?”
Man says Time passes away. But Time says: NO! IT IS MAN WHO PASSES AWAY. TIME GOES ON FOREVER . . ....
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