In Remembrance of Those Lost

Loss is a strange thing. Personal, public, those close, those known but unknown, and the many that will never be known as individuals by us.

Each one has a name, a family, a start, a story, and for many an untimely end.

In the last year or so two people left my life. In the scheme of things they didn’t cause any great ripples in the surface of the world. But they gave me my life, and started a small dynasty that will keep expanding.

This year has also broken records for the number of exceptional, talented, life enhancing and enriching people we have lost. Each of us has their own list of singers, actors, writers, and public persona; creative talents that have given so much to so many.

Some gone in their own time, some too soon, but each leaving an indelible mark on our lives and the world.

All lost. But loss is only one half of the story. Of course we feel sad at their parting, knowing that they will no longer add to the sum of our lives with the joy, thoughts, ideas, inspiration that they brought over the years.

But, it is those expansions to our spirits, souls, minds, that creates the loss. We know them for what they gave us, what they added. We are sad that the show must end, but we had the show. And we will always have the memories.

The real sadness are all those unknown, unnamed and unnecessary that too were lost. In the name of power-broking, punishment for past and half-remembered arguments, post-truth and pointless conflict created from fear and jealousy.

The numbers mount, every day, every hour. Season of goodwill means nothing in so many areas of the world. Peace on earth is a distant dream for thousands, for millions, with no control over the forces that disturb and destroy their potential futures.

But each one is a loss, a unique element within the whole. And the whole will never be the same for their passing.

For those we knew the memories will be there to round out the loss with the time we knew with them. Mum, Dad, each day in my thoughts still and always.

For those we admired, watched, applauded from afar, their legacy will be with us to remind us of what can be added to our lives, and the lives of so many.

And those we will never know, will never have been a part of our lives, and now never will? They must be remembered as well. Because their lives too had meaning, and will always have.

We cannot forget them. To forget is to accept that they don’t matter, and they do, every one of those unknown and unnamed.