by Cinda Smaagaard

Created on: July 11, 2009   Last Updated: July 13, 2009

When we die do we head for Heaven, Hell or some other kind of afterlife? The answer will definitely surprise you since no one person can answer this with exact authority. Faith-based believers will depend upon the promises made by God including forgiveness and mercy. Your enemies will, of course, be relying on an opposite fate to await you - which is ironic considering that they were most likely the ones to have caused you Hell on earth in this life. One thing for sure that cannot be disputed is that those who have lived a remarkable life do attain some kind of everlasting remembrance in the works they produce and the lives they touch while alive. This not only includes musical entertainers, movie legends, historical heroes and powerful politicians, but also those who were bold enough to commit courageous acts of remarkable kindness, charity and love for the greater good of all of us.

When you read biographies about famous figures, you get a sense of who really is on God's list of Who's Who. Did you know that there was yet another young black woman who refused to sit at the back of the bus in the segregated South before the famous Rosa Parks? It seems that oftentimes we have people who work behind the scenes to pave the way for others to achieve greatness. Eleanor Roosevelt and Jackie Kennedy come to mind. These remarkable women not only helped their husbands during Presidency, but went on to do great things on their own, thus establishing a kind of everlasting legacy that never dies. In a sense, some people never die.

Human beings are material and so we "decompose" just like everything else. Our bones and teeth may hang around a little longer, but according to CSI and other forensic specialists, the rest pretty much deteriorates rapidly. It is the soul of a person which supposedly passes on. Those grief counselors who specialize in Death & Dying tell us that it is not the person's passing so much that makes us sad, as that special part of us like the good times and self-reflection that the dead one takes with them when they go. When my father died, my competitive spirit went with him. When my mother died, so did my senseless guilt and obsession with designer labels. You come to understand that it is WHO you are - not WHAT you are that matters. The college degree, the house in the country, the cash, the kids, the cars - sorry folks - they do not go with you into the afterlife. How one utilized the education they were given, how a home was shared and hospitality

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