I've always been a bit of a history buff, so interpreting what I see on cemetery markers is of interest to me. The Barney family doubtless had an adventurous life. Most of their children were born BEFORE A.I. headed to California to seek his fortune. It appears that didn't happen.
Every life is an adventure. As we live it, it consumes us... it is obviously all we know. Perhaps this subject holds more interest for me since the coronavirus is reminding me of my own mortality. I remember visiting Sue's home in Queens, New York, many years ago. There was a stack of photo albums on the bookcase and we began going through them. Sue told em about her family. At the bottom of the stack was an album filled with photos that she didn't recall seeing. We took the album downstairs to show her mother and she didn't know any of those people.
In a hundred years it is likely NO ONE will know who we are. These lives that consumed our attention, that seemed so important, really are little more than the flickering of a firefly...
In the Lalitavistara Sutra, the Buddha says:
"The universe and its inhabitants
are as ephemeral as the clouds
in the sky;
Being born and dying are like a spectacular dance or
drama show.
The duration of our lives is like a
flash of lightning or a firefly's
brief twinkle;
Everything passes like the flowing waters of a steep waterfall."
