Not too long ago an old school friend placed an announcement about his father who was admitted to the hospital. The prognosis did not look very good and it seemed that everyone was expecting the worst but hoping for the best.
Not long after he placed an update on Facebook that his father had passed, when he did so it remind me of my own father's death only 25 yrs earlier and the feelings that I had experienced during the sudden death.
I was in the military then and shortly after had to travel back to Germany with my then-wife and infant daughter. While struggling with the loss, I found myself in the local community book store where I stumbled onto a book called "On Death and Dying".
Chapter One, I read the Poem which helped me cope and to understand the experience which would later prepare me for yet another loss. My mother...
I want to share that poem and dedicated this to my friend Felix Crespo and his family.
"Let me not pray to be sheltered from dangers, but to be fearless in facing them.
Let me not beg for the stilling of my pain, but for the heart to conquer it.
Let me not look for allies in life's battlefield but to my own strength.
Let me not crave in anxious fear to be saved but hope for the patience win my freedom.
Grant me that I may not be a coward, feeling your mercy in my success alone, but let me find the grasp of your hand in my failure"
God bless you and your family.
