Until death brings them together again

Salpicon of Ideas

by Pablo Alvarez

thus, a number of celebratory dates of varied relevance that go from President’s Day to the national day of drinking wine. But this year, due to the fatalities of the Coronavirus, Valentine’s Day will be very different. Hundreds of thousands of people will have to resign themselves to stop celebrating that day knowing that there is no vaccine that will give them back their loved ones. For this reason, the famous phrase “until death do us part” now sounds more like a sentence than an oath of love. The truth is that I never quite understood it. Perhaps because in my neighborhood’s church, where during my childhood I spent endless hours studying the Bible until becoming an atheist; they described paradise as a place where we would meet our beloved dead ones. But of course, only fulfilling a lot of requirements impossible for me, like ALWAYS behaving. I want to clarify that I was not a bad boy, but not a little angel either. I was just a kid who, like most, would sometimes get into fights at school or lie to the teacher when I forgot to do my homework. But for me, that was enough for the celestial border patrol to forbid me from entering Eden.

But atheism never took away the illusion of some kind of existence beyond death; especially when my father died (which technically makes me agnostic). I just can’t believe that a person as good as he was just ceased to exist and turned into ashes, dust… into nothing. Nor can I imagine him playing the harp from a cloud getting bored for an eternity. There must be something in between. I have faith (if I may use that word) that his energy must be somewhere waiting for my mom to celebrate Valentine’s Day again. Waiting for her, until death brings them together again.

My name is Pablo Álvarez and I have the privilege of joining the family of writers for the CNY Latino newspaper in January 2021. My column will try to reflect the same degree of diversity as my academic formation, which is why I decided to call it “Salpicon of ideas”. I will address current issues with a varied approach, that I hope is also of interest to our community. Although it sounds a bit strange, I’m proposing a more or less open relationship. Let’s just say that I don’t promise to be exclusive in my content, since I also write fiction. However, I faithfully commit to you that I will give my best in these monthly meetings. I hope you do the same. Read as much as you can, since knowledge does not take up space, but try to return every month to this corner of the CNY Latino newspaper to continue cultivating this friendship.