Q&A After Life

Connor's Question

It saddens me when they're young. I don't like to see the young. They don't typically have the ability to grasp what's happened. Connor was unique, however. When he arrived, I asked him if he understood what this was.

He said, "Yes." I could see that he was disappointed, but not frightened or confused.

I asked him, "Could you tell me a little about yourself?"

He calmly explained:

"My name is Connor. I'm twenty years old... well I was, and I was happy. I attended a good university, studied hard, and had a girlfriend that I loved whole-heartedly. I would have married her, but my path took a major detour."

It was clear he truly knew who I was and what he had left behind. He continued solemnly,

"My parents are devastated, I'd imagine. I had one sibling, a younger brother. He's now an only child and will have to look after himself. Within a couple of years, he will have to make his own path instead of following the tracks I've left up until this point. I have faith that he will be fine."

"He will be." I comforted.

"I was a philosophy student." He proclaimed.

"I know." I wasn't expecting him to state his area of study. Most of the time people jump to questions, hundreds of them.

"This is the sort of thing I thought about a lot."

"You did? What have you discovered in this short time?"

He paused. I could tell he was struggling to attached his thoughts to words. But, then he spoke with beautiful curiosity.

"I remember all of my life, but I don't remember exactly how I died. I suppose it doesn't really matter once you've reached this point of existence... or non-existence. I'm not sure what you would call this state of presence, if it's even a presence. In one moment I was there and then the next I was here. Here is hard to explain, describe, or even feel. It's the end of a life, my life, but it in itself is endless. There were no tunnels or lights leading me to this point. I didn't see loved ones who'd passed on before me. It was just me - some form of me and the manifestation of you... and I'm assuming you're death."

"I am what you want me to be to you in this moment; an angel, a grim reaper, a voice, a God." I affirmed.

"So you're God?" He pondered somewhat excited. "God is real?"

"Is that your question?" I replied with an unbiased tone.

"I only get one?" I could tell he was dissatisfied by my reaction.

"When you meet death, you're given the opportunity to ask one question. It can be anything. It's almost like a genie in a lamp, except there's no magic or wishes involved. Just a single question about life, death, the universe, and all within it." I clarified, watching him take in all of his questions about the universe, attempting to narrow it down to only one.

Finally, he asked me something I wasn't expecting. He asked me about... me.

"What's been the hardest part about your life... or rather lack there of?"

I'd never been asked something like that. I took on many forms right before his eyes. I'm neither a he nor she, a human nor animal. I'm all of life - ironically.

After several moments, I was able to digress a bit.

"Human-kind as a whole is capable of such good. I've seen it throughout time. But, after hundreds of years of wars and destruction, that good was lost to the idea that one must be better than good, and stand-out among the rest. A sense of wholeness within humanity was lost, damaged, and forgotten."

I could tell that Connor was both confused and immensely intrigued by my response. The answer he was expecting was something more along the lines of a tragedy that happened in the vast span of history. Something that death had to act upon; mass genocide, terror attack, or a natural disaster. Instead, my reaction was one that mourned human-kind and the loss of their ability to be good.

Just as he had asked about me, I answered about him and the world he had left.

Most of the time after the question has been fulfilled, they leave immediately. But, Connor didn't. He had one more thing to say to me, as he smiled.

"I'm not sure what the word future defines after life ends, but I hope that I can at least recall this brief conversation with you before entering into it. We should all seek to unify with goodness if given another chance at life."

He then moved on to his next mission in the universe.