Why?

Imagery courtesy of Castle Argghh!
(IYKYK)

A number of times over the last year I've learned to check Facebook before wishing someone a happy birthday. Too many times I've checked on an elderly buddy only to discover that he'd passed away at some date in the past, since his/her last birthday.

Now Facebook is kind of an odd thing. I have many friends there whom I've never met in person. Why am I friends with them on Facebook? Common interests, knowing people in the real world we have in common. It's also a great way to keep up with family when those family are spread over the world.

Some of my Facebook friends are folks I used to work with, being retired (twice over now) there are folks I don't want to lose touch with.

That opening picture? I got that from a friend who did it using some sort of AI tool. I thought it came out very well.

The central character is a badger, an American badger to be more specific. He's surrounded by cats, all walking into the sunset. It looks as though they are emerging from a forest, following a narrow path which leads to a clearing.

There's a saying in one of my circle of friends "they've entered the clearing, at the end of the path." Signifying that that person, or beloved pet, we'll get to that, has passed from this existence to the next. Whatever that might be.

That saying comes from The Dark Tower by Stephen King¹ -

“Go now. Our journey is done. And may we meet again, in the clearing, at the end of the path.”

We have other sayings about death, some far cruder, some perhaps more enlightened.

Now to specifics.

I first encountered this fellow over at the old Neptunus Lex blog. He commented as "SCOTTtheBADGER," as his first name is Scott, and he's from Wisconsin, the moniker made sense. (Far better than some I've seen.)

He was a gentle soul, he loved cats, he lived on a farm and had a large number of cats, working and homebodies, that he called friend. He posted a lot of photos on Facebook of him and his cats, usually them piled on top of him during a cold Wisconsin winter.

His birthday was the 21st of August, as Scott was in his mid-sixties² and in relatively good health, at least he hadn't reported any recent ailments, I went ahead and posted on his page for his birthday. Later in the day I saw a post in one of my Facebook groups that Scott had actually passed away, one week before his birthday.

I was stunned, to say the least.

There's just been too much of this death crap going around lately. I know, I know, it's part of that whole "circle of life" thing, but I still hate it.

A friend of mine from the old days on Okinawa lost his wife this year, a cherished colleague from work passed away in May, my daughter's dog of 14 years died, one of my best friends lost her cat of 15 years recently, the list continues. I hesitate to check my phone/computer in the mornings these days for fear of someone else entering the clearing at the end of the path.

There are those who say, "they're in a better place now, no more pain, no more sorrow." I do believe that, the pain and the sorrow is left for those of us mourning our dead.

I mourn you Scott, I truly do. You were a gentle soul, a fellow lover of the feline race, and a good, solid human being.

Though we never met in person, and I hate to realize that now we won't have that chance, I felt I knew you as a person. I counted you as a friend, a comrade, a fellow veteran.

Scott mourned the loss of a number of his feline friends over the years, he had just commemorated the one year anniversary of the passing of one of his favorites. Now he can be with them.

I shall truly miss you, brother.

See you in the clearing someday.

As to the question in the title ...

Someday we'll know.

¹ Before becoming a political radical he was a very good writer. I'll say no more about that.

² I thought Scott was in his fifties, a mutual friend notified me of the error, so I corrected this. Still far too young in my opinion.