going somewhere?

  We will all be gone one day, there is no escaping that reality. The only question being, where. What if the answer is no where? It is something I have considered as a possibility but find that unsettling. That's strange though, because if I am going no where, I won't know it when we get there. So why should that bother me? But I don't believe that, and that is the cause for consternation. I could get there, fully aware. Given what I have been taught about that, it is reason to worry. Could be I won't receive as warm a welcome as I am hoping for. It's all a matter of confidence, being self assured, and totally convinced. In short, belief.

  I'm not one that believes in ghosts, signs and messages from the other side. I have never seen or heard a thing from anyone. Seems to me if there were another side that would have happened by now. But maybe you have to die on that side to get to this side. Do you know what side you are on? I admit to having my doubts about that but remain hopeful for a better place than this one. But a better place like where you go on vacation better, but you don't want to live there. If you did move there you would look for another place to go on vacation. Might be a few years or so before that happens, but it will. Might even want to go vacation to the place you left. Yeah, we call that going home. 

  Going home. That is another way of saying a person has died. I only recently heard of people preparing for their "homegoing" as an expression. I understand it is common in black culture. I learned that watching a television commercial for some life insurance company. Having that policy was a guarantee that the person was ready for their homegoing. Really, it is to provide the funds for others to send you away, sort of a prepaid vacation thing. You get to decide how much you expect them to spend on that. Are you counting on a plush casket in a prime plot in the local cemetery, a big ceremony, and an opulent headstone? Or, just a simple cremation, a simple urn to transport those ashes and a toss into the wind. Depends on how you want to go home I suppose.

  So just where is that home? We all had to come from somewhere. Adam came from the dust, that's what the Bible tells us. In fact the majority of major religions in the world believe much the same thing. Some don't mention God but simply say we came from the earth and to the earth we will return. Dust to dust as it where. We know what is expected of us if we want to go home. That knowledge is a part of our creation. We know right from wrong. It is the society in which we are raised that will begin to alter that knowledge, to modify it and provide for "exceptions." Then having learned that we begin to expect a reward for doing the "right" thing as defined by society. The reward is going home. Well, for some it is anyway, and for others I'm just not certain what they think. You don't go anywhere? That just doesn't seem right. 

  I hear that heaven is a gated community. I've never lived in a gated community but hear they are real nice. I've also heard they are a bit exclusive, with lots of rules. That does concern me. I've never lived in a gated community and so figure that can't be home. I'm not even certain I want to live in a gated community. I like having stuff in my yard, painting things colors I want and even having a boat in the driveway. If I am to go home it would have to be a dirt road, on the edge of a wooded area and just five neighbors within eyesight. No gates anywhere in sight.

  Maybe death is like going on vacation. You go where you want, have a great time, make some memories and then return home. It's just that you start all over again. You really wouldn't want to be on vacation forever, then it isn't a vacation anymore. You do have to have something you want to get away from. Or maybe what we call living is that vacation, and when it's over we are going home. The only problem there being, you don't get to decide when it is over, but you didn't get to decide on being here either.