Death and Passing

We call it a passing - but such an odd use of this word.

A pass can mean to deny the use of something. "I'll pass on that dessert."

It can mean the successful completion of a test and a contrast to failure.

It can also mean a permission to go somewhere that is normally forbidden. Like the school pass that allows you to be in the corridors when everyone else must be in class. Or in its national form, to allow you to move from one country into another.

But when we say that someone has passed we often add an adverb. Usually either "on" or "away".

One shows the perspective of the one who has passed. It is to another place. The other shows the perspective of those who remain behind. The person is now "away"

But perhaps this passing is the great permission to be where, until now, it was forbidden to be. Perhaps this passing is also the successful completion of a test.

For thse who remain, the "away" is felt deeply. But  the one who has passed sees this event from the other side.

I mourn not for the one who has passed on. I mourn for those who experience it as the passing "away".

(c) Brian Kelley 2018-12-16