A Look at My Mortality and My Life's Meaning
C.S. Lewis (1996, p. 128), quoting St. Paul, wrote that "I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us." Lewis (1996) was writing of the glory that human beings will find in heaven if they have lived their lives in accordance with God's will. In reflecting on my own mortality and assessing the meaning of my life, I find that I agree with Lewis (1996) in my own assumption that the temporary pain, suffering, and problems that all human beings experience during their lifetime direct us toward the "better life" which will occur in the hereafter.
In this essay, I will offer reflections on my mortality and the meaning of my life. By way of introduction, I am a 36 year-old Filipina-American woman, wife, and mother of three beautiful and loving children. I was born on November 3, 1966 as the only child of Filipino parents and encountered the pain of loss and issues of mortality early when my parents both died before my first birthday. Reared by my grandparents on the small island of Masbate, after high school I moved to the city of Manila and worked as a restaurant manager. It was there that I met and married Ronald Gale, who has always been a loving and supporting husband. Ronald and I began our life during his service in the U.S. armed forces and dedicated our marriage and our family to living a Christian life, teaching our children the values of our Catholic faith, and ensuring that we would always function as supports for one another. I was baptized at birth and accepted the teachings of my Church because, like Houston Smith (2001), I have known instinctively from an early age that religion matters and that the tenets of Christianity provide a moral and ethical framework in which a good and satisfying life can be lived.
Though introduced early to great grief because of the deaths of my parents...