Dear Rachel,

I know you are alive today even more than before the monstrous tractor made
its way towards you. That day, I do not know what you ate in the morning. May be
nobody knows. Maybe millions of such trivial events are now lost for ever. Big deal.
They are not you. What is you, your essence is well alive, and so many people
identify with it. You are the spirit of loving and caring, the spirit of giving, the spirit
of dedication, of loving the persecuted more than yourself. And all that, is not dead.
All people who admire you, carry in themselves a great part of you. In a sense you
now exist in a multitude of people. Instead of one Rachel, there are now thousands
of you.

A person wakes out in the morning without willing to go to work. He does not
say good morning to his wife, does not put his hand around her waist. He does not
talk to his children and does not hug them. He goes to work, doe snot learn anything,
does not teach a thing. Back home he drinks a can of beer while eating his meal in
front of the TV. He then goes back to bed and thus adds one day to his biological
age..

Another person wakes up full of energy, determined to make the day count. After
having hugged her, he helps his wife prepare the breakfast. He is playful with
the children and express his affection to them, takes interest in their day at school.
He goes to work, tries to learn from everyone, and does teach something to
every one. Back home, he puts his arm around his wife's waist, help his wife
in her chores, seats down at the table with his wife and children, asks everyone
about his/her day, helps the children in their homework and then, he goes to sleep
adding thus a day to his biological age.

Obviously, the two days thus described are of exceedingly different value. If the
first person lives to be eighty, and the second lives to be 40, there is no doubt in
my mind that the second person has lived much longer than the first.

As to you Rachel, you lived a short biological age, but the real life you lived is as
long as eternity.. With so much love, admiration, and even envy, envy because I
am not sure I can be like you, though I want it so much.

Clement