We never trivialized the meaning of death by pretending it was anything other than a final parting.
Kategori: Allmänt
En kändis jag gillar skarpt är Carl Sagan. Han var en astrofysiker/astronom/författare/litealltmöjligt, och han skulle ha fyllt 81 år igår.
Bland massa bra saker han har gjort så är den här en favorit, den påminner en om livets vackra meningslöshet och vår litenhet:
Redan innan jag hade börjat tycka om Carl Sagan (eftersom jag vid tillfället knappt visste vem han var) hade jag ett citat från hans fru i min citatbok. Ja, jag har en citatbok, jag är en ordfetischist. Och det här; det är något som alla (inklusive jag själv) borde fundera över lite oftare:
"When my husband died, because he was so famous and known for not being a believer,
many people would come up to me - it still sometimes happens - and ask me
if Carl changed at the end and converted to a belief in an afterlife. They also frequently ask me if I think I will see him again.
Carl faced his death with unflagging courage and never sought refuge in illusions.
The tragedy was that we knew we would never see each other again. I don’t ever expect to be reunited with Carl.
But, the great thing is that when we were together, for nearly twenty years, we lived with a vivid appreciation of how brief and precious life is.
We never trivialized the meaning of death by pretending it was anything other than a final parting.
Every single moment that we were alive and we were together was miraculous - not miraculous in the sense of inexplicable or supernatural.
We knew we were beneficiaries of chance. That pure chance could be so generous and so kind. .
That we could find each other, as Carl wrote so beautifully in Cosmos, you know, in the vastness of space and the immensity of time. . . .
That we could be together for twenty years. That is something which sustains me and it’s much more meaningful. . . .
The way he treated me and the way I treated him, the way we took care of each other and our family, while he lived.
That is so much more important than the idea I will see him someday. I don’t think I’ll ever see Carl again. But I saw him. We saw each other. We found each other in the cosmos, and that was wonderful."
