“The Circle of Life”
Melissa’s sweet voice and Fred’s heartfelt piano accompaniment of this Lion King piece play in my head as I walk today. What an amazing “Singing Us Forward” Concert last Saturday night, thanks to the hard work and artistic talents of Kim & Hilary, the founders of the event. But why does this song linger? I get it! Yesterday I walked past where Nathaniel took his own life, and today, I stop at The Birth Center in Bryn Mawr where he majestically entered it. Between those two geographical points, I walk by an enormous cemetery on Rt. 320 as well as countless Christian churches persistently advertising the resurrection. And I’m surrounded by the vibrant bursting of spring. There is no holding it back. The circle of life is not about a straight horizontal line between birth and death, and there is so much we do not understand about our passage here. At the Birth Center, I learn that Nathaniel was baby number 820, and now the number of births is in the 8000s. There is no stopping life, is there? It was here on August 21, 1986 that I witnessed for the first time a real miracle. And 24 years later, Nathaniel chose to end it. How do we accurately measure the quality of life? In the number of years lived? In accomplishments attained? In goods acquired? Or is there a different measuring tool used, what I would like to call the “Positive Impact on People Factor”? If the latter, then our dear young man died very old and very wise.
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