Week 38 - Aurora over Iowa
I just had to share this glorious picture, taken last week in Iowa by Stan Richards. You can see the larger original and credits at http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap061218.html. Kim, are you watching this from high over Iowa?
I have been thinking on and off about my grandmother Bep Hers-Ligthart. Born in 1888, she passed away in 1980. She is buried in a lovely cemetary in Krugersdorp, some 40 kms from where we live. It is high up, on a gentle slope with a tremendous view to the North, all the way out to the Magaliesberg mountains. I went out to visit her grave a few weeks back, and spent some time remembering her.
I don't know where we go after we die ... I don't have any strong religious faith. As an engineer and scientist I need to have visible proof. But it seems to me that people do live on after death in some ways. One way is in the minds and memories of other people.
While sitting under the trees I wondered if she was still anywhere near to her body, and the cemetary. I certainly felt close to her. And then I had to laugh at the picture I conjured up: Now, you need to know that Bep was an extremely strong personality, with very definite views. She left Holland well before the second World War and brought her three young children to South Africa where they made their home. And I just could not see her stuck anywhere near to her physical body... Just imagine what a cemetary would be like, with hundreds and hundreds of souls, each tied in some way to their physical remains.
"What? Me hanging around with all those other dead, boring people? I have nothing to say to them. Ridiculous!"
I have been thinking on and off about my grandmother Bep Hers-Ligthart. Born in 1888, she passed away in 1980. She is buried in a lovely cemetary in Krugersdorp, some 40 kms from where we live. It is high up, on a gentle slope with a tremendous view to the North, all the way out to the Magaliesberg mountains. I went out to visit her grave a few weeks back, and spent some time remembering her.
I don't know where we go after we die ... I don't have any strong religious faith. As an engineer and scientist I need to have visible proof. But it seems to me that people do live on after death in some ways. One way is in the minds and memories of other people.
While sitting under the trees I wondered if she was still anywhere near to her body, and the cemetary. I certainly felt close to her. And then I had to laugh at the picture I conjured up: Now, you need to know that Bep was an extremely strong personality, with very definite views. She left Holland well before the second World War and brought her three young children to South Africa where they made their home. And I just could not see her stuck anywhere near to her physical body... Just imagine what a cemetary would be like, with hundreds and hundreds of souls, each tied in some way to their physical remains.
"What? Me hanging around with all those other dead, boring people? I have nothing to say to them. Ridiculous!"
posted by Peter | 10:34 AM
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