It was just starting to get dark when the family of Brennan gathered for a brief celebration. His child was around too. They intended for the celebration to be brief seeing as Brennan didn’t have such a good life while on earth. They tagged it a celebration of life. A celebration of Brennan’s life who struggled to find a space for himself on this earth. On the sick bed, he said to his wife, “I struggled a lot on this earth. I am scared to leave you. But I hope I find some rest now.”
When Brennan graduated from school, he got a job as a salesman at a grocery store. For some reason, the store shut down and that threw Brennan back into the job market. Unable to find one, he started doing menial jobs. Cut the weeds here, run errands there, dispatch rider during the day, a security guard at night. It was glaring that he tried and everyone bore witness to his struggles to survive and provide for his family.
During one of his night shifts as a security guard, he was sitting on his chair when he felt some rumble in his stomach. It was not the first time. His stomach had started bloating but he took it as a hereditary trait; his father also had a big stomach. Until he tried to stand and his body wouldn’t allow it. He was taken to the hospital, and he died two days later. Everyone in his family believed his death was a relief; a relief from all the struggles he would have faced if he were alive. Now, he had now gone to rest.
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A while after they finished observing the funeral prayer and Bukhari was raised into the ground, the Imam and other congregation members gathered for a brief sermon. In his sermon, he admonished everyone to live a peaceful and religious life because someday, like Bukhari, they would all face their Lord to account for everything they’ve done in this life.
He said that while death might have been the finality of our existence on this earth, it is the beginning of other journeys which start from the grave. Two angels shall visit us inside the grave for questioning and one would be there to torture us while the other would be there to take care of us, depending on the kind of life we lived on his earth. Whether you’re rich or poor on this earth, you shall restart another journey with your Lord and account for every single thing. The journey of the earth might have ended for our brother, Bukhari, but it is the beginning of another. He has not faced his Lord and we pray that the journey will be easy for him, the Imam prayed.
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No one has gone to the hereafter and back to narrate how it is out there. What we all munch on is whatever the religion feeds for us. However, I have observed that the concept of death itself depends on perspective and experience. The families of Brennan and Bukhari have different perspectives on the essence of death. One family perceives it as the finality of any journey and eternal rest while another believes it to mean the inception of another journey. For Brennan’s family, it was a sigh of relief, a closure to the struggle of existence. It signified rest from the burdens of earthly toils. But for Bukhari, it marked the beginning of an unknown journey, where one faces accountability for their deeds. What really awaits us beyond the veil of mortality? Does anybody really know?
Perhaps death is not a singular concept but a spectrum of experiences shaped by individual beliefs and experiences. It’s a transition, a passage from one state of being to another, shrouded in mystery – it could be a transition into rest or another journey. Nobody knows. We are confronted with the fragility and limits of our understanding. Our existence is a mystery. Is death both an end and a beginning? Is it a place of eternal rest or a divine place for trials? While no one knows for certain what’s next after death, death itself is certain. No matter who you are, it will meet you someday.
This is why I think everyone should strive and be intentional about living a good and kind life. Whether death is a finality that leads to rest or another journey, whatever we’ve done on this earth also matters. Our memories live forever in the hearts of those we leave behind. Whatever journey that exists, or not, after death rests on us. But what we have spent our life doing remains in the hearts of our family and friends. We shall be remembered for whatever and however we choose to spend our lives. Be kind people, be kind.
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