Today at the shelter I picked up the paw and nose prints from Steve the dog. Steve was notorious for eluding law enforcement. In September there was even a story on a local news station that talked about his exploits. Steve had been roaming around a Lexington neighborhood for almost a year. A spokesperson for the Humane Society said "Steve had become very friendly with a lot of the dogs in the neighborhood he was in and the people there got to know him and love him and so he was always very wary of people.” Wary of people didn’t capture it. He was terrified of people. The call was to have him slowly learn that people are good by having people sit next to his space in the shelter one hour at a time. For weeks I would check in on him, sometimes sitting next to him talking calmly about whatever came into my mind. It seemed like he was improving over the weeks, but it was very slow going. Last week he wasn’t there, and we learned the awful news that the staff decided to put him to rest. He was just too stressed, and suffering too much, to keep the process going.
It got me thinking about rainbow bridge, and whether Steve was waiting for all those people who worked so hard to help him. And it got me thinking about heaven. About halfway through the dish pit full of dishes and litter boxes, I decided that I really do believe in heaven.
But I don’t believe in a heaven the way that most people talk about it. I don’t think there is a place in the clouds with a guy with a beard that floats around in a robe, some guy checking names at a gate, and everyone who has ever lived is flying around with wings. I do, however, believe in the underlying path we are told to follow in order to get into heaven. That is, be kind to others. Do the right thing. Basically, work to make the world a better place.
If not in the clouds, where is the heaven waiting for us after a lifetime of good deeds? Believe it or not, the answer comes from science. Neuroscience, to be exact. Imaging of the human brain in the moments preceding death show wave patterns that are similar to memory recall and dreaming. The upshot is that it appears that, like the saying goes, our lives flash before our eyes. Now imagine living a lifetime of good deeds, and all of that memory and emotion coming in an instant.
I’m going to see Steve again. Not flying around on wings, but from the memories of visiting him. But it won’t be like the memory I’m having while writing this. Because I’ll also feel every hug, snuggle and all the love from King, Smokey, Max, Toby, Lucy, Willy, Charlie, Cole, and Calli. And in that same instant I’ll experience billions of memories of my family and all the friends I’ve made along the way. Now that must be heaven.
