Mere Christianity – C. S. Lewis (1952)
There is a saying with regards to the dates on a gravestone … the date or birth and the date of death mean little if the dash between was not what it should have been worth.
In other words, it is what you do with your time on earth that is what you should be remembered more for. That could even be said of those that, as far as they were concerned just lead a boring, uneventful life, because they still had a unique story between those two dates.
Each child born comes with a back story and even if that child doesn’t have many, or even any times along the dash between the two dates they will still have had an influence on others. The mother that carried it, the staff that cared for her, the professionals that assisted the entrance into this world, the office staff that dealt with the paperwork, the records clerks that ensure births and deaths are registered, the coffin makers, the funeral service workers, or even the church officials that oversee the last rites and the congregation that grieve and/or comfort those remaining and family members. Then there could be many others down the line. Those that generations later are tracing family trees, historians, genealogists and landscapers and countryside planners.
All this for a baby that did not live long … so imagine the impact a life, however long or short has on the wider picture. All of the above, plus friends, loved-ones, extended families, offspring (their own and within the associated families), school encounters, maybe university/further education staff and peers, work colleagues, fellow hobby fanatics, and the list goes on, and on.
We all touch the hands of many as we dance through this life.