The photograph below is a collage consisting of the answers to the question “What does Palliative Care mean to you?” given by people who stayed in Palliative Care Center (*) where they spent their last days before dying.

The last thoughts of the people who were diagnosed with the illness maybe years ago or perhaps a short time ago, who have taken chemotherapy time and again, who have had surgery, as if that wasn’t enough, have been hospitalized again or have been put to death bed fast…

I wonder how it feels to continue living knowing that one is going to die any time soon. Just think! While one continues her/his routines in a world where it is normally uncertain who will live how long, there, there are people who have been given ‘approximate’ time to live or; in other words, the ones whose life time could be estimated...

Hence, just think!

The nice person who gets angry with the driver who turns without signalling, with the child who doesn’t put away her/his toys or doesn’t do her/his homework, with the manager who overworks her/him, with her spouse who doesn’t help with the housework, with the friend who doesn’t call frequently…You be the judge of that…

Below are all sorts of answers.

Palliative Care reminds them of;

Compassion, hope, sisterhood/brotherhood, empathy, melancholy, sadness, choice, worry, humanity, and regret. But mostly of; LOVE…

Now, do you see the desire to be one with love?

The need for love…

Please take a look at your daily complaints again.

The human being who, in fact, lives with death everyday but forgets about it.

What about remembering the finite aspect of life?

Simply put, are you well aware that you are going to die because you are born?

Comprehending something is beyond knowing that thing. It happens when you grip it and develop an inner awareness of all its aspects. Could one develop an awareness about every aspect of death? First and foremost, acceptance is necessary. The acceptance that there is death in the definition of life. Then, living with this fact doing what is necessary. For example, what would you do if you learnt that there would be a power cut in your neighbourhood tonight? Perhaps you would buy some extra candles at a market or plan to stay at another place as you are aware that, simply, it is difficult to go from one room to another. Comprehension makes you move and take responsibility.

In the same way, the comprehension that your life has an end should set you in motion.

People who wrote down the answers above are no longer alive, at least in the way we know.

How do you bring that Love here while you are here?

How do you live a more connected and deeper life?

How do you live with more love towards life?

(*) Palliative Care Center is the place focusing mainly on mitigating pains/sufferings of patients with diseases no longer curable, enabling holistic methods such as massage, reiki, art and music therapy; in short, the place aiming at enabling patients and their families to spend their last days together better.

Yazının Türkçe versiyonu olan "Sonun Fısıldadıkları" yazısını okumak için tıklayın!