Endings.

Why is it that things have to come to an end? I asked myself this question when a friend said on her Facebook page that she was dreading her Grandma's funeral today. I'm sure we can all empathise with that feeling as most of us will have lost a loved one at one time or another and had to face the prospect of laying them to rest.
Why does this have to be? All things end at some time, childhood, relationships and eventually life. We are of course finite beings with a lifespan which comes to an end when our bodies wear out, even the fittest and healthiest of us come to that inevitable conclusion.
Perhaps the best solution to dealing with these endings is to make sure that even though we are gone, and I'm not just talking about once we are dead, I'm also thinking of when relationships end, that we leave behind us a legacy of kindness and compassion so that when we are no longer around people will remember us with a smile and maybe miss us a little bit.
It may be that if a relationship has ended badly because of the behaviour of one partner or another or someone who was a complete swine during their life has died it will be difficult to remember that person fondly. That said, perhaps we should use the bad behaviour of these people as a lesson for us and treat people with kindness and compassion so that when we are gone people can say, 'do you recall old so-and-so? What a lovely person, I do miss them' and maybe they will live their lives in a more kindly fashion and make the world a better place.
I know of course that there will always be haters, the prejudiced who make others lives a misery, I'm not so silly as to think that everyone will be kind, there are too many selfish people around these days for that to happen. What I do suggest is that if each of us who is willing tries to live life in a caring and compassionate way maybe we can influence the odd hater to change their approach. One is better than none, and on that note I'll say, ttfn.