The Empty Slot

A hospital employee is given much reason to reflect, for everyday there occur things that remind them that life is precious.A seemingly innocuous item or occurrence can give one pause to ponder the meaning of life or the sorrows of the ones left behind after someone passes on.

Today I had one of those innocuous moments.

When I was stocking my room with supplies,I noticed a slot that was full when I had inventoried the room, but was now vacant. In that slot went an adult body bag pack. Upon seeing the empty slot, I was caused to think back to a moment from earlier in the day. There was a family gathered outside a room, crying and clearly upset.I had not paid much attention for frequently are families posted outside rooms and not infrequently are they distressed.

However, the absence of the body bag and the obvious connection to the sobbing family made this poignant for me. In that missing pack now lay their loved one. A real person, who mere hours earlier was alive, was now wrapped in plastic as one wraps a gift. No longer would this person dream dreams or hold in love a family member. No longer will this person be able to revel in a sun drenched August day or stand in quiet admiration of the polychromatic splendor of fall.

When a person passes from this world, their suffering ends. No more the pangs and discomfort of tests, no more pain from whatever ailment they are afflicted with, no more anguish for they now reside in that unknowable realm we call the afterlife.

The torment of the deceased now passes on to those left behind. Where the former dealt primarily with physical agony, the latter must bargain with the ache of emotional pain over the loss of the person they so deeply cherished. It is the misfortune of the living that they must continue forth while their loved one sleeps in peaceful eternal repose.

Parting from a loved one for the final time is rarely a sweet sorrow. It is a soul-shredding, tear-inducing moment that leaves one with the sensation that their heart has been torn asunder. All that is left over is an emptiness that no one or thing can fill. An emptiness that will be with you until it is your turn to be placed in that plastic bag.

That empty slot represents much more than just a slot to be restocked, but a life. A life unknown to the rest of humanity, but beloved by those who mattered most--family.There is no greater measure of a person than that.