Death of a Human Soul

Death is somewhat unfamiliar to me. While I’ve lost people very dear to me, I’ve been to less funerals than I can count on one hand. I’ve never experienced the loss of a close friend or family member, let alone a pet I was incredibly attached too. I’ve often questioned death as I questioned my spirituality as a child, and as an adult (and non-believer) it’s something I’ve put hours of thought in to. Obviously, there are scientific reasons why death is technically painless, but why is it that we’re so afraid of it?
Today, I attended the funeral of a man whom I did not know. He was a man who many people depended on and cared for. He had a lot of friends- hundreds of them, in fact. He worked hard, believed in God, did good things in the community, and lost every physiological need that most human lives can even fathom. This man was a resident at the Homeless shelter I do pro-bono PR for. When he passed I received an email from our shelter director within hours, expressing her pain that the local newspaper had reported on his passing but decided to use the word ‘transient’, which is a frequently known derogatory term in the field I work for. ‘This man was anything but a transient…” she said in her email.
I attended his memorial service today. Partly because I am a part of the community of this shelter, and partly because I believe he (and the other shelter residents) needed support at this dedication held at the Sanctuary he called home.

As we stood in a big circle in the parking lot of this over crowded downtown shelter, my emotions overwhelmed me. Volunteers, residents, members of the Faith community, and even board members locked hand in hand to share stories of this man, who had touched many of the lives of these people. All mourned in his passing, remembering all the good things he had done in the community, and many praised that he was now in a better place- where housing, homelessness, and health were no longer a premise of his day.

I believe death is one of the most common shared human experiences. Loss, especially death, is one that every person must face at some time. And we’re all scared as hell for it to find us. “Death is as much a part of life as anything else” said my wise best friend, who held hands with a six foot, scraggy man who had a cigarette in his other hand- all without fear, or judgement. We both smiled at the toddler with a fresh-blueberry face, who has no concept of the stigma homeless people carry upon them.
C. is on her 10^th funeral, including those very much a part of her life.  She’s right, in that death is a part of every human life at some time or another.

Done by a Sanctuary resident.

“He was a human soul,” said one of the residents about the man who we honored. It was  a simple saying with much meaning today. I’m honored to be a part of the memorial of a man who people loved and relied on- even when the majority of the Boise community and media outlets incorrectly identified him as a “transient”, which really means :

tran·sient   [tran-shuhnt, -zhuhnt, -zee-uhnt]  

adjective

1. not lasting, enduring, or permanent; transitory.

2. lasting only a short time; existing briefly; temporary: transient authority.

So, in a reality of things- we’re all transients. Why does running away from death feel so natural, when really, death can be no more scary or hard than this life we all live?