Today marks the beginning of November. November has always struck me as a somber month, the exuberance of fall fading away to make room for the barren cold of winter. November is also a month of remembrance. In the Commonwealth, we start wearing poppies on our lapels to commemorate those who offered the ultimate sacrifice for our future. The Christian community observing All Hallow's (Saint's) Day; our Latin American counterparts celebrating Dia de los Meurtos.
Yet, I realized as I grow older that I was wrong about the timbre of November. Remembrance of the dead needs not be solely a somber affair; In fact, we ought to rejoice as we celebrate those who passed on before us. The truth is once we have gone through the wringer and cycled through the five stages of grief, all that remains are nostalgia and good memories of our departed loved ones. It is these memories that we must cherish. Their stories, while perhaps truncated by the vicissitudes of life, needs to be shared and regaled with gusto. For without them, their contribution to the quilt of humanity, we are nothing.
As we look back and remember, let us be filled with appreciation for what those who have passed on have done for us; from the mundane and trivial to the august and sublime. To the discoverers, the researchers, the trail-blazers. To saints and to sinners. To those who dared to make blunders that we may make our own trial and error. Let us rejoice and celebrate, for ultimately we are each the product of millennia of love and sacrifices however great or small; and we are also the continuation of their hopes and dreams.
So, as we march into November, may our heart beat with elation as we carry on the torch that will carry us through winter. Feliz dia de los Meurtos, and Happy All Saint's Day to all.
