Life and death

The other night I was working here at the fire station and my mom called. At her 1st words I knew something was wrong. She told me that she and dad had to put down their dog Poco. She was upset and crying and I knew she wanted me to come by to be with them. I felt badly that I couldn't but I knew she understood.

Poco had been in pain and couldn't walk without his training wheels. Mom and dad used to take him for walks in a baby carriage. He couldn't pee without the help of my parents. They would have to hold him while squeezing him like you would a fruit to get juice. It wasn't a good quality life for a dog.

Although it was difficult for me to say, like I had done a couple times before, Poco had to be put down. It wasn't a good quality for life.

Why do we mourn for the dead? We mourn for our loss. We mourn because we will miss our loved one(s). Are we being selfish? I think so, but that's ok. Should we mourn? Yes, we are human. We will recover. What else should we do? We should celebrate the life of our loved ones. Celebrate because they will live for eternity in a better place without pain and suffering. Yes I believe that even dogs go to heaven.

Life here on Earth is temporary. We need to live life to its fullest. Tomorrow might not come. We've all heard this before but do we live life to the fullest? It's hard but life is hard. We don't live our lives like tomorrow might not come. We take it for granted that tomorrow we will open our eyes in the morning. We take for granted that the Sun will shine. We take for granted that we live in freedom. Can we afford to do this? NO! We can't.

As the world changes so should we because tomorrow might not come. The Sun might not shine. We might not open our eye and we might not be free. Live today for today. Live life like every day was your last. Hold onto what you have. Embrace life like you would embrace a loved one. Let the people in your life know you love them every day. Show them. Tell them. Teach them even while in an argument. Never go to bed without telling the people you love most how much you love them.

We've all heard this before and we've all said this before. Most of us will go to bed angry without showing their love. Again, we're only human. But if we make more of an effort to show our love to others then we become a better person. If we help someone in need, we become a better person. We need to reach out and pass on the love because that's what life is all about. And if we do this we become a better person and we'll feel great about ourselves. This is the 1st step in being able to change the world for a better place. If we find happiness within it makes life a better place for all. If you find true inner peace you will find that your inner peace can and will make a difference in others.

When I first got on the fire department I was in a Memorial Day parade. I was sitting in the back of Engine 1 and my parents had dropped off my son who was 4 or 5 at the time. So I got permission to let my son ride with us on the engine during the parade. As we were coming up to a crowd of elderly people I noticed that there wasn't a smile on any of the faces in the crowd. I said to my son, "hey Rob, smile and wave at all the old people. It'll make them smile." Rob thought I was crazy. He also thought this was great and he did what I had asked him to do. Rob started waving and smiling like crazy as we drove past the crowd. To his surprise, not only did the elderly people smile but they waved back. Rob thought this was awesome. He laughed and was so happy as were the crowd. What he didn't realize was, I just taught him that a smile is contagious and a smile can make someone very happy. The crowd had gone from looking miserable to shining like the sun because of a smile from a child. Isn't that great?! A small gesture goes a long way.

True happiness comes from within. This I believe. Love yourself 1st. Once you love yourself then and only then can you shine. You and only you can make yourself happy. No one can make you happy except you. Others can help you and you can help others to find peace and happiness.

Show your love and shine every day. It's funny how contagious it can be. Spread it and embrace it. Teach it and lead by example. If we all did it, think of what a beautiful world it will be.

Peace to you and all you love.

Rick