Later today I will be talking at a Death and Dying class here on campus. I have presented at this class since my one book came out in 1997. Twice a year I speak before young people and each time it is different and yet similar. Always, I walk away with something to share. The last time in the spring a young man I had once met years ago in grief counseling weekend came up to me and told me how much that weekend made a difference in his life.
The professor wants me to share stories with the students and I have many - in the book and even more after the book was published. No problem with that at all. The students are not all medical students - they are going into all walks of life and I tell them that no matter where they go they will encounter someone who is dying and/or someone whose loved one is dying - and even they themselves facing a loss if they have not already.
I have started to compile stories again to share and I'm taking the next step and putting them into a book for others to read - to know none of us is alone in this life - someone understands, someone has faced the same decisions/struggles and have survived.
We all have stories to share and the success of the book came about because the stories were of ordinary people who forever changed those they touched in this life and continue to do so in the next. As with the young man who came up to me last year - we all impact each other and sometimes we don't know this until years later.
Stories speak of birth and death and the life - no matter how long or short - everyone makes a difference.
