From dust to dust

My uncle's wife just died a few days ago. I wasn't too close to her, but I liked her, and was pretty sad for her departure.

I didn't know she was loved by so many until I saw the number of people attending her funeral. Death can never be an easy thing. We're all destined to it, we all know that it will happen, to us and to our loved ones. Yet still, we're always surprised and shocked when it happens. The worst (and favorite) part of a funeral for me, is when the body is taken out of the coffin and into the grave. At the end of the day, we're simply reduced to ashes and dust. From dust to dust. All that remains, are our deeds, and that's what we carry with us to the afterlife. Wrapped in a piece of cloth, leaving behind all our fortunes, social status, family and friends. Looking at her body carried out of the coffin, making her way under the ground, and seeing my uncle and cousins there, I couldn't hold my tears.

Alot of people think about themselves in such events, funerals work like reminders. People remember that they too are going to die, that their loved ones too, are going to die. The rest of my uncles and aunts were in a pretty bad emotional state. They'll miss her, and feel bad for my uncle, ofcourse, but I think its more about themselves. They're seeing death with their own eyes in her moving coffin, and remember that life can end in a second. We all end up under the ground eventually. They all start remembering what bad they've been doing in their life, and realize that life is not worth it, and start crying. Any fights they had between any of my uncles and/or aunts are now resolved. They all hugged, kissed and made up. All it took was a person's life for them to realize that they'd better get their act together and stop bickering, because their time will come too. A few days later, life goes on...



To my amusement, Gamal Mubarak was at the post-funeral ceremony (A'za).. err.. maybe I should stop complaining about my family's friends!!