Michelle Samuel

Recommended movie: Up

This poignant movie describes the grief process of an older man who has  lost his wife, the love of his life. We witness both his pain and despair and his  process of recovery.   His recovery is initiated by his determination to carry out a dream that they had together, in spite of his wifes absence. Underneath  the adventure story and amusing animation lies a deeper truth about the need, not to forget but  to continue living , forming new bonds and connections while remembering .

Or – What Would You Say to the Person on the Roof?/ Avshalom C. Elitzur, PhD

Hello, Ron. I am here to talk to you. I hope I will be able to speak in favor of the side within you that still wants to live.

In any court of justice, even in a totalitarian state, every person is entitled to a defense, whereas you have appointed yourself as prosecutor, judge and executioner, all in one. I, therefore, demand the right to speak in your defense.

First of all, let me say that I understand that you are now at the very limit of the human capacity for endurance. The pain you are feeling is huge. I truly believe that your suffering is extreme and that the situation feels absolutely unbearable. It is a suffering that cannot be overcome, laid aside or forgotten. This unbearable suffering, this inhuman pain, must be stopped. Perhaps you also feel tired and weakened from the fight against forces that are too strong for you, against the ill-luck and the cruelty of your life.

I acknowledge your deep pain. I accept your feeling of no solution. I accept that you feel at the end of the road. Every human being may arrive to a point when one says: That’s it! I can suffer no more! I accept that you have reached this point.

Even so, I will try to speak for another way of viewing things. I believe that this different voice also deserves a say.

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This is a small book, really more of a poem stretched into a book. It is the epilogue of  “Lord of the Rings”. Bilbo, the adventurous and resourceful Hobbit , prepares himself for his last Journey. He hears the call; he knows his time has come. There is melancholic flavor to this poem. The sorrow of departure from the universe he knew. Farewell to “middle earth” – to people he loved, to places he visited. The illustrator added another dimension to the poem. The illustrations depicts Bilbo’s adventures and accomplishments. As if Bilbo was revising his life, before sailing to the unknown. I liked the fact that there is no easy consolation in this poem. No promise for after life. The mystery of death remains, but the sorrow is mitigated by acceptance of the inevitable,  and a  sense of adventure.

For me, this small book provided consolation after a close family member had passed away.