A Celebration of Life

     Back in March, I received word that doctors had diagnosed my friend's three-year-old brother, Jack, with brain cancer. Earlier this month, my friend called me, in tears, telling me that he had died, peacefully, in his sleep. Three days later, I attended his funeral. As I sat in the church with over 800 other people whose lives had been touched by Jack, I became slightly bored with the long eulogy and endless speeches from tearful friends and relatives and looked at the hundreds of people around me. Most of them, I noticed, either had tears in their eyes or tears streaming shamelessly down their forlorn faces. Even I have to admit that at certain points in the speech that my friend gave about her little brother I might have felt an occasional tear or two slide down my cheek. The little boy sitting next to me, who I recognized as one of Jack's friends, however, smiled throughout the entire ceremony. When the service finally drew to a close, I asked him why he did not appear sad at all, to which he replied, "Sad? Why should I be sad? This isn't a time to be sad, we're celebrating Jack's life!" I smiled at his response, but as I continued on through the day, the week, and the month, his words remained with me and whirled around in my head. So, when reading a passage in Strout's 2008 novel, Olive Kitteridge, about Jane Houlton, a troubled yet pleasant elderly woman, I decided that I wanted to live my life with her perspective and this little boy's outlook on life. As she reflects on life, Jane ponders its splendor and looks gratefully upon all the opportunities that it has given her. She comes to the conclusion that "so many moments weren't just moments, they were gifts" (126). Unlike the majority of the other characters that Strout chronicles in her novel, Jane shows a unique and unparalleled sense of appreciation and gratitude for even the littlest pleasures in life. She looks back on all of her memories, both pleasant and unpleasant, and appreciates the happiness in the pleasant ones and the experience and strength that she gained from the unpleasant ones. This sense of gratitude makes her happier and more appreciative in general, and allows her to lead a more rewarding and fulfilling life. I find this attitude inspiring, as I try to harbor the same outlook. Although I do not always succeed, I have committed myself to continue trying. Additionally, during this same reflection, Jane realizes that "people were compelled to celebrate because... life was a thing to celebrate" (126). Just like the little boy with whom I spoke at the funeral, Jane takes into consideration the fact that we should celebrate life and appreciate all that it has to offer us. We should take full advantage of each little opportunity for mental and emotional growth and learn what we can from every experience, painful or joyful, that we go through. Most importantly, though, we need to remember that, during moments that may seem sad, like funerals, instead of dwelling on the depressing factors of the situation we need to follow both Jane's and this little boy's example and celebrate life.