Life is likened to sand sometimes. Some would say, it can slip through our fingers with us watching … but I have another view of sand when it comes to life.
In days of old, hourglass sand was used to mark the beginning and end of an event. The hourglass has two sections. The lower section holds the sand, and the upper section stays empty except for small granules refusing to fall without a gentle nudge. Between the two parts rests a narrowing piece. Both sections of the hourglass and the narrowing are one. One beautiful piece of glass. This glass was made by the ingenuity of past generations.
The lives we remember were marked by the quick movement, an inversion of the hourglass, if you will. Life and time has begun for them. Other lives had a new element added to their universe. The difference in remembering the lives lost on September 11th, 2001, and illnesses due to World Trade Center-related disease is that time ended short of their planned sand cascade. The game of life ended too soon on account of some misaligned belief.
It is still my belief that the future generations of lives will indeed run their hourglass sand through to their determined end. With all the luck and faith in the world, their lives will be the stubborn granules of sands that refuse to fall, ending their journey with us.
I know we cannot restart their lives as their cascading sand stops. We can live our lives fully, as our loved one would want us to.
I ask you to never look at your hourglass. Put it away, forget about it. And if your lives are blessed to have hardy sand strong enough not to fall, embrace it. Pay it forward to family and friends.
