October 24 2016

I’ll close this month’s discussion of how mentioning death can help us care for ourselves by sharing a wisdom tale from Madagascar called “Why Death is Like the Banana Tree” from the book The Moon in the Well Wisdom Tales to Transform Your Life, Family, and Community by Erica Helm Meade and David Abram.

God wanted the first man and woman to be able to choose the kind of death they would have. One day he asked, “Would you prefer to die like the moon, or like the banana tree?”  The couple did not know what it meant to die like the moon or the banana tree, so God explained, “Each month the moon dies and fades away, but it revives bit by bit to live again.  When the banana tree dies, it does not come back, but it leaves behind green sprouts so that its offspring can carry on in its place.  You may have offspring to take your place, or you may revive each month like the moon. You choose.”

If you had that choice, what would you choose?  I’ll share the end of the tale next week.