Does the phrase alive and dead make any sense? It does to me, having just watched the TV program MESSAGES FROM 9/11. Do watch this, if you get the chance. The program focuses chiefly on the loved ones of people who died in the twin towers.
Impossible to watch dry-eyed as the widow of one victim described her husband's habit, during his lifetime, of collecting quarters so that he always had a handy supply. She went on to tell how, after his death, she kept finding these coins in the most unlikely - and unexpected - places. She'd find one under her pillow, or in the fridge, or on top of the TV, or on a bookshelf - or wherever.
When she was feeling lost, or sad, or in need of reassurance that she was not alone, another quarter would turn up suddenly to demonstrate her husband's nearness.
Then there was the man who 'lost' his brother, to whom he had been very close. The two men had devised some special phrases by which to identify one another in circumstances such as these. When the survivor visited a medium she said that she had a message for him that seemed to be in a foreign language, as she couldn't understand it. She could relay it, however - and, sure enough, it was the exact phrase the brothers had agreed as identification years earlier!
One man told his grieving wife that he had arrived in a place far too beautiful to describe in human language. She asked for a sign that he was still nearby and, on a day when there wasn't even a breath of wind, a breeze started stirring almost immediately in the trees. This also ruffled her hair and seemed to whisper against her skin. She knew her husband's touch.
Let's end with the little girl who was 4 when her father died in 9/11. She saw him frequently after his death - and chatted happily with him as he sat on her bed. When her mother questioned who she was talking to, the child couldn't comprehend why her Mom couldn't see him too.
Can we be both alive and dead? You bet!
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