Look Both Ways

Toodling along in our automobile we met a Pukeko flying across the road. I watched in slow motion as this ungainly bird flapped towards the road intersecting my path as I cruised south at 100 kmh. These birds are always on roadsides unworried by traffic. By the thump as I hit this one, I knew that it should have been more cautious. We stopped. Zane said " Well, I''m not cleaning up that mess." I thought,"I'm not either". 140km later at home, Pukeko was still there, as seen on blog TV.
Life often takes an unexpected turn. For Mr Pukeko on sunday night, it was a terminal turn for the worse. Several people of my aquaintance have had similar experiences in the last year. Apparently, the first indication of a heart attack for one third of people is that they are dead. Some really good people have had cancer this year. Politician Rod Donald shocked New Zealand by waking up dead recently. We are just one heartbeat from eternity. Interesting how in western society we have a well oiled funeral industry which basically removes death from sight, like garbage removal. People seldom go to the graveside anymore for the people who are buried. Too final I guess. Yet we love visiting cemetaries and seeing the markers of lives gone by. Way better than scattering ashes in weird places. " We threw half your grandfather off the side of a hill. The other half is under the fruit tree on the house we sold 5 years ago." How does that help younger people find their place in the world and reinforce their identity?
Look both ways before you cross the road.