왜 가을이 되면 나뭇잎이 붉은지, 노란지, 각각의 색깔을 띄는지 아는가? 이는 물과 영양분이 끊긴 녹색잎이 죽으면서 나뭇잎에 담겨있던 다른 색깔들이 드러나는 것이다.
이는 죽음을 앞둔 모든 이에게, 우리에게도 해당되는 말이다.
내 주변에 살아있는 모든 사람은 비슷하게 보인다. 모두 다 녹색이다. 하지만 시련이 닥치거나 죽음이 임박하면 그 사람의 진짜 색깔이 드러나는 법이다. 나만의 진짜 색깔, 나의 진정한 컬러를 생각하고 준비하는 것은 삶을 지혜롭게 사는 방법이다. 떨어지는 가을 나뭇잎에서 삶과 죽음을 생각하는 위령성월, 11월이 되었으면 한다.
It is so romantic to see that autumn leaves that have splendid colors are falling down. It makes us moody as well as reflective on life and death. The autumn leaves somehow seem to answer the eternal mystery of life and death.
Green leaves during spring and summer start losing their color when autumn comes. It is a process of dying because trees know that winter is coming soon and they have to reserve water and nutrition. In order to do that, trees cut water to leaves because leaves spend water to photosynthesize. By losing water and nutrition, green leaves begin dying. To autumn leaves, death is imminent and necessary to survive; suffering is inevitable and needed to live on.
However, it is an amazing process for observers to begin finding what the leaves truly are. After green is gone, there is a festival of different colors—yellow, red, orange, brown and so on. The different colors that have been in the leaves and yet never been to be shown have a brief moment to parade.
St. Paul assures today, “None of us lives for oneself, and no one dies for oneself. For if we live, we live for the Lord, and if we die, we die for the Lord; so then, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.”
How often do we think that I live for myself and I die for myself? We are all the same and act the same like the same green color that covers all leaves and looks the same for a while. However, when autumn of life comes, we start seeing different colors in myself and others. Like the splendid different colors, aged someone is beautiful and lovely in the manner and attitude to others. Some just wither and decay with gloomy and gray colors. In the end, the true color of oneself reveals.
An autumn leaf that is falling and dying is natural and happens to all of us. It is a fate or a gift from the Creator. Just fading away or leaving memorable colors is up to us. What would be your last color? What is the true color of yourself that you are preparing for the end of your life? Autumn is here and November is a month of remembering the dead. Looking at autumn leaves, I dream of my last color be splendid and beautiful that no one has ever seen.