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Thursday, December 09, 2004 ; 1:38 PM
i read the book again and again. and came across two other inspiring parts!
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(eddie meets his second person in heaven. his captain in war. in war, his captain had shot eddie's leg in order for him to survive, and he lost his leg. his captain on the other hand, sacrificed his life for the soldiers. he walked ahead to ensure there were no dangers, and ended up stepping on a land mine.)
"sacrifice," the captain said. "you made one. i made one. we all make them. but you were angry with yours. you kept thinking about what you lost."
"you didn't get it. sacrifice is a part of life. it's supposed to be. it's not something to regret. it's something to aspire to. little sacrifices. big sacrifices. a mother works so her son can go to school. a daughter moves home to take care of her sick father. a man goes to war..."
"i didn't die for nothing. that night, we might have all driven over that land mine. then the four of us would have been gone."
eddie shook his head. "but you..." he lowered his voice. "you lost your life."
the captain smacked his tongue on his teeth. "that's the thing.
sometimes when you sacrifice something precious, you're not really losing it. you're just passing it on to someone else."
"i shot you, all right," he said, "and you lost something, but you gained something as well. you just don't know it yet. i gained something, too."
"what?"
"i got to keep my promise. i didn't leave you behind."
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(eddie meets his fourth person in heaven, marguerite, his wife, who left him when she was 47, having a brain tumour.)
"you had to live without love for many years, didn't you?"
eddie said nothing.
"you felt that it was snatched away, that i left you too soon."
he lowered himself slowly. her lavender dress was spread before him.
"you
did leave me too soon," he said.
"you were angry with me."
"no."
her eyes flashed.
"ok. yes."
"there was a reason to it all," she said.
"what reason?" he said. "how could there be a reason? you died. you were forty-seven. you were the best person any of us knew, and you died and you lost everything. and i lost everything. i lost the only woman i ever loved."
she took his hands. "no, you didn't. i was right here. and you loved me anyway.
"lost love is still love, eddie. it takes a different form, that's all. you can't see their smile or bring them food or tousle their hair or move them around a dance floor. but when those sense weaken, another heightens.
memory. memory becomes your partner. you nuture it. you hold it. you dance with it."
"
life has to end," she said. "
love doesn't."
xoxo -
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