Blessings
Cora Anderson has passed away. I am thoroughly agnostic about the afterlife, but I wish, to whatever of her remains, all the best and the accomplishment of her Will.
I only got to meet her a few times, and she was very tired and not terribly clear, but I felt a great reverence toward her. From everything I have heard about her, I think we would have gotten along well had I been able to know her before her stroke. She had a practicality and no-nonsense quality that I greatly admire.
I have the Last Rites of the Bokonon faith running through my head now. They are slightly silly, and do not resonate perfectly with Feri, but they remain my favorite last rites, and I rather hope someone will give them to me (ending with "Good Night") when it's my time to go.
God made mud.
God got lonesome.
So God said to some of the mud, “Sit up!”
“See all I’ve made,” said God, “the hills, the sea, the sky, the stars.”
And I was some of the mud that got to sit up and look around.
Lucky me, lucky mud.
I, mud, sat up and saw what a nice job God had done.
Nice going, God.
Nobody but you could have done it, God! I certainly couldn’t have.
I feel very unimportant compared to You.
The only way I can feel the least bit important is to think of all the mud that didn’t even get to sit up and look around.
I got so much, and most mud got so little.
Thank you for the honor!
Now mud lies down again and goes to sleep.
What memories for mud to have!
What interesting other kinds of sitting-up mud I met!
I loved everything I saw!
Good night.
I will go to heaven now.
I can hardly wait,
To find out for certain what my wampeter* was,
And who was in my karass**,
And all the good things our karass did for you.
Amen.
*wampeter - one’s (and one’s karass’s) purpose in life
**karass - the team of people with whom one unwittingly does the Lord’s work
Blessings to everyone in the Feri community. Cora will be greatly missed.