A sobering statement from the movie, Planetarium, ‘We are the ghosts of the future.’

The movies was about two sisters who began their careers as mediums and who appeared on stage in Paris.  Although the movie had relatively poor reviews, I enjoyed it.

It looked at the concept of contacting those who have passed on or died…and if there was any validity to the idea.

A more popular movie, that was made around the same time as Planetarium, was Personal Shopper with Kristen Stewart in the title role.  Ms. Stewart’s character is attempting to contact her deceased twin brother who died suddenly of a heart attack.

Both movies, intelligently, examine the question that is on everyone of our minds…is there life after death?

I spoke with a friend, recently who is not a year older than me, and he asked me if I ever thought of my mortality.  This is a friend that I have had since I was a teenager.

I replied that I did not…but shortly thereafter…that changed.  He said that he thought of his mortality…daily.

After my wife’s uncle passed away his wife said that she often saw him in their home and that she spoke to him.

Lauretta went on to say that Merle regularly smiled at her…but that he did not speak.

I often reflect on the generation that preceded me.  My stepfather Earl and his love of the zoo.  His goal was to visit the zoo in Knoxville, Tennessee.  He often announced the he was going and that if my mother did not want to go…she could stay home.

Earl never got to visit the Knoxville Zoo.

Earl loved to visit the St. Louis Zoo.  He would suggest that we visit, usually in the spring, and we would do so…usually in the summer.

The traffic in St. Louis scared Earl…in an explicit manner.  He would announce to the car load of us…that if he ever got out of St. Louis alive that he would never come back to this terrible traffic city again!

The next year we returned…usually in the summer.

My mother loved her home.  She and Earl purchased it for $1,500.00 and almost totally remodeled it and built…the new room from the derelict outline of the front porch.

She adored the New Room.  It was all done in red and black…her favorite colors.

To hear Mom speak…you would have thought that she lived in a mansion.

My aunt Guelda lived in St. Louis for many years.  She was twenty years older than my mother.

Guelda was from the first set of children that my Grandmother had with Mr. Quinn.  There were five Quinn’s, of which Guelda was a member, and five Askew’s, of which my Mom was a part.

Guelda seemd Jewish to me.  Her first marriage was to, Lou, who was a Jew, and she seemed to me to look and have the, wonderful attributes of a Jew.

It has been my feeling, for most of my life, that I am part Jewish on my mother’s side of the family.

Guelda visited my Mom, in Eldorado, Illinois, from St. Louis and she was wearing fur coats and pearls and was glamorous.

Guelda and Lou, knew the popular entertainers, Bob Hope and Bing Crosby and they travelled in society circles and were financially well off.

When I asked my aunt Guelda how it felt to meet and know Bob Hope…she replied that he was just a man and that he put his pants on one leg at a time like everyone else.

I sat in the audience at the Civil Service Council Meeting, earlier this month, and watched with pride the good work of the members and the president and my old friend, Elizabeth, and thought that I am, now, just part of the crowd…and I would not have it any other way.

And, so, we have our short time upon the stage of life..and as I told my friend who was the chancellor…it matters not if you are helping one person or thousands…it simply matters that you are making someone’s life better.

Let us not be to satisfied that we understand what comes after death…the Jewish Faith is not.

Have you been there and come back to inform us?

I do feel, strongly, that no religion has cornered the market on the after life and that when we experience it…no one will be more surprised.