The Five People You meet in Heaven

“The Five People You meet in Heaven”is the title of the novel I just finished. It was written by the author of “Tuesdays with Morrie”, Mitch Albom.

The story is about an old veteran, Eddie, who died from a traffic accident when managing to save a little girl. When he journeyed to heaven, he met five people, The blue man, the Capatain, Ruby a young girl, his wife, as well as a little girl Tala who died in the war Eddie was involved. He only knew some of them. But each of them taught him a lesson.

The first lesson Eddie learned from the blue man was everyone is somehow connected. Strangers are those one has not yet been acquainted. Everything we do will affect the life of others.

The second lesson Eddie learned was from the Captain. Eddie knew the captain in Philippine during WWII. This Captain reminded me of Lieutenant Dan in Forrest Gump. Both of them had the similar family legancy in military and dedicated themselves to the wars. So the second lesson Eddie learned was sacrifice.

The third person Eddie met in heaven was Ruby. Ruby was a beautiful young girl, who married a businessman. The businessman built the amusement park where Eddie worked as a maintanence and named the park after Ruby. Through Ruby, Eddie learned and forgave his father who had ill-treated him.

Eddie met his wife, the fouth person, who died of brain tumor in heaven. Their marriage reflected the majority of ordinary marriage in the world. Love and romance first, then plain daily life, arguing from time to time. After meeting his wife, Eddie felt his wife had been taken too soon. This is the lesson he learned. One realizes the preciousness once he/she loses it.

The last person Eddie met was the little girl Tala, who was burned in the explosion Eddie was engaged. With forgiveness, Tala asked Eddie to wash her burns. Tala also convinced Eddie that the little girl in the park had been saved. Tala was a symble that Eddie’s job and responsibility was to take care of kids in the amusement park.

We don’t have to wait to learn these lessons until we are in heaven. We can learn and take action right now. Like described in the novel “no life is a waste, the only time we waste is the time we spend thinking we are alone”. Heaven is nowhere but where one is living.