Uncle Wiggily and the Inward Flame

The Lamp That Is Not Turned Off

A dear friend of mine passed away suddenly a few weeks ago. He and his sweet wife took the day off from their business and spent a fine day together sitting on their deck and watching the flowers and the birds on a nice  summer day. That evening they went to their business which happened to be a dance hall-studio. After a few hours there, they were leaving when one of the teachers made a comment about a prominent older dance teacher who had just passed away. He said to them something like we have to appreciate every day and be happy to be alive. They did live their lives that way.

They came home and he dropped with a severe heart attack and died a few minutes later.
Everyone was shocked and dismayed and it makes one wonder at this thing called life

Some days we are bored, some days we are exhilarated, some times we are tired and some days we yearn for something exciting to happen. We never know what is in store for us or our loved ones. We often say we will start smelling the flowers and we will stop dwelling on bad things with bad thoughts. We do not always adhere to those thoughts.

It is easier to say than to practice. After an experience like mentioned above, then we do really start to be happier and more content with what we have or been dealt.That surely lasts maybe a short time like a week or two and then we go back and act and live the way we always did before this happened. We get bored, we work too hard, we envy others who have more than us or we just plain are dissatisfied with things. We should be counting our blessings.

We forget that this awful thing happened to a good person and his family are still grieving and will be for a long and even longer time. They will go back to their work, to their daily routine and miss him so much. They will remember the happy times and the good remarks and special moments that all had together. A word, a phrase, a thought and even a special food will remind them of the deceased. They will laugh at something they remember he joked about and they may have not laughed then when it was said. They will recall a piece of clothing he wore that they loved or did not care for and may have made a comment on. They will remember the trips they took together and enjoyed each other’s company. They will think about when they had family and holiday celebrations and everyone ate to their heart’s content and everyone was tired from all the holiday preparations.

They will remember tender moments and sweet gifts given to each other for anniversaries or holidays. They will reminisce about funny experiences and going to restaurants to eat together a simple meal or an elaborate meal. It did not matter because they were together. My own mom used to say after my dad died, that one of the hardest things was to eat alone especially at home. She would sit at the kitchen table and could still hear his words complimenting her on the dinner even if were a light dinner. He got pleasure out of everything she cooked and applauded her with verbal thanks. From an elaborate holiday meal to a modest cup of soup or a scrambled egg, he thought it delicious. He had been poor growing up and mealtimes were happy and together moments when the whole family sat and ate together. He equated us all eating together every night to a festive occasion. That is why she missed him so much at dinner time. Every meal was a feast of food, of talking and mostly of being together.


I bought at Barnes and Noble bookstore an inexpensive book of Shakespeare writings. It is called No Fear Shakespeare and explains in easy language interpretations of Shakespeare’s writings. In Sonnet 97 it explains Sonnet 97

“My separation from you has felt just like winter, since you’re what makes the year pleasurable.” We should all remember that when our loved ones are with us, we should tell them daily that we love them and not think that oh I will say that next time.Sometimes, we are not lucky enough to see them next time. Take the moment in hand and say it now because now is here and we never know when the here is gone.

My friend mentioned above who passed away suddenly always shared his love with his love. They had a second marriage each to one another and even though their time was short, about eight or nine years, they filled each day with love and remembrances.They showed each other that now is here and here is now and they did not wait for the separation to happen suddenly to express those thoughts. Those thoughts were ever present and ever spoken and that is what love and devotion to one another is.

This is the inheritance of the remaining person, having the spirit and the days past engraved on one’s heart forever. That keeps us alive in someone else’s heart and that is our legacy-being remembered with devotion, love and our self. Someone once wrote
“Spirit is an inward flame; a lamp the world blows upon but never puts out.”

My late friend and his wife will never have their lamp blown out or turned off. Their lamp is lit forever in their hearts and in their souls.

I remember my dad who is gone now forty-seven years. He died when I was thirty and mom died when I was fifty. My brother called me up when mom died and said “we are now orphans.” Interesting thought that it happened to us at these ages and yet in his mind, he thought of us as orphans.I think about when I was five and could not read yet, dad use to read me from the daily newspaper a short story called Uncle Wiggily. I think Uncle was a rabbit and  he could talk and always had an interesting saying at the end of the story. He would say I will see you next time and that will be before the carrot turns pink and the tomato becomes blue. Its meaning I believe was that he would see ‘you’ the reader real soon. When my children were young, I went out and bought them a set of a new and revised version of Uncle Wiggily, so they could see what Mom had been read to by her dad (their grandpa) so many years ago.

Uncle Wiggily had a good philosophy for an imaginary animal/person. He knew that we should see one another soon and not wait so long as to turn pink or blue. We can adapt that to our relationships.Never let the inward flame blow out, let it be lit in our hearts everyday and as the holidays approach soon in December let it shine.

The Christmas lights on the outside of homes shows the world we are happy,anticipating and keeping on the bulbs to light up our life. The Chanukah menorah is a 9 candle holder lamp that is lit every night for 8 nights with one extra candle or electric bulb as its leader showing that it kept lit for eight nights many centuries ago in the temple even though the oil was almost gone. So the lights of both forthcoming holidays show the city, county, country and world that the inward flame is never shut off. and is forever in our hearts.Uncle Wiggily written by Howard R.Garis was a wise, old rabbit.He knew we should be in contact with each other, friend or family one way or the other. Of course, there was no television, no emails, no fax machines, no texting in those days. He wanted everyone to keep close any way that it was possible.Our inward flame was the strongest and most vibrant of all flames and deserved to be ON always.Do that in your own life now and everything will appear luminous and radiant.Uncle Wiggily would be proud of you.