The title of the October 8th show was “To Heaven and Back".
Her guests included Dr. Mary Neal, “a woman who spent 15 minutes underwater and lost consciousness", an eleven year old boy, Colton Burpo, who shared his near-death experience, Akiane Kramarik, an art prodigy, who "began to have visions of being in heaven and meeting God" and Theresa Caputo, aka, The Long Island Medium.
Reader's comments on the Couric show's website and on The Daily Beast dot com, which excerpted the Newsweek article, ranged from blissful acceptance to ridiculing skepticism.
On the skepticism scale, with one being mildly skeptic and ten being ridiculing, I would rate myself to be an eight, leaving some room for "anything is possible, I guess".
Two of the guests on the Couric show had an effect on me.
The first being Theresa Captuo.
My opinion, regarding the Long Island Medium, is total, all in skeptic. But as I watched her work the crowd, I completely understood why members of the audience were hooked in.
With tears in his eyes, a man in the Couric audience, described his mother's last few moments. Caputo assured the man that his mother was right there and wanted him to know that she was okay.I too, found myself wishing it were real. I wandered off and wondered what messages my mother or my son might have for me.
The second guest who had an effect on me, or at least lowered my skepticism rating somewhat, was the art prodigy Akiane Kramarik.
Her truly amazing skill, at the very very young age of 4, (she is now around 18) was for me, mind blowing. I had a passing thought that maybe there was something to this divine intervention theory after all. I even rewound the DVR to show Ross the remarkable works of this young woman.
As I began to write about this, today, I decided to look for a link to her works. I came across this article claiming that the whole thing was a hoax perpetrated by her parents.
Apparently, according to the article no one has ever actually seen her paint a piece from start to finish. And as she stated on the Couric show, she has not been able to paint recently because the visions no longer come to her.
That's when that niggling, gnawing, nasty little skepticism eyebrow of mine was again again raised.
When my mother was in the last stages of her illness, she would constantly ask me if she were dying. I would try to brush off her question with words like, "Oh, Ma, we are all dying." I asked, though, that if she went before me, to please come back and tell me what it is like, to die. My mom died on November 24, 2009. Still waiting, mom.
It is so hard for me to accept that my son found a better place to be. He fought so hard to live, to stay here. I am positive he did not want to leave his son, his wife, his family. A few days before he passed away, he promised me that "we still have more time".
Just as I am sure that the majority of people want to know that their departed loved ones are okay, I also know that most people are comforted by the promise of seeing their loved ones again in some form of an after-life.
Scientists say that energy is indestructible and therefore infinite.
So, perhaps, just maybe, the after-life is in the life we give to our children. Perhaps each and all of our experiences, kindnesses, hurts, love, and yes, sometimes even hate become the energies that we pass on to our students, those young ones whom we all encounter during our lifetimes.
Before she died, my mom told me that my grandmother was in the room, "right over there, in that corner", she said.
I also have had strong experiences of the "presence" of the energies of my grandmother, my parents and my son.
And perhaps, just maybe, when my son promised that we "still have more time", he was revealing a greater message to me.
Funny thing is, until I meandered around this topic and put it to "paper" I hadn't thought about it that way. And funny, that, if I can believe in that, then it logically follows that my son became the teacher, and I the student.
I have created a page for Anna's Diary. It can be found under the Tab titled Anna's Diary.
I have posted all of the entries to date there, starting with January 1, 1929.
Here is today's entry from Anna's diary:
Friday, October 11, 1929
Baby much better today. Kept him indoors all day. Went to bed with him early as no one here. Jean at school and Ted to meeting.
