"One of the elders stood up and added to what my father had said: "I pray to the gods and ancestors that your family will always be together, even when one of you crosses into the spirit world. To family and community." The old man raised his open hands in the air. My father came over and stood by my mother and motioned for Junior and me to come closer. We did, and my father put his arms around us. The gathering clapped and a photographer took a few snapshots."
This touched me and was so powerful, because everything about it said, "family." My family means more to me than anything in the world, I so related to this passage because I have one brother and a mom and dad that I am very close to. I could just see the connection going on for Ishmael, how powerful to love that strong and to have such a delight in your life, as a loving family. How awful to have it pulled away from you, it must have took his heart and his soul. I thought of how Ishmal must have to believe what the elder said about the family always being together even when they, "cross into the spirit world." This is so important because Ishmal no longer has his family in the flesh, but no one can take his memories and their love away. When the elder prayed this over his family, it came to be true, for I think his family in the spirital world saved him many times over from death and knew there was something more powerful for him on this earth. Just to picture his whole family with their arms around each other makes one almost want to cry. It would be one of his last sweet memories of family. He had a very strong father and Ismal takes after him by being strong and going on with his life. It just made me think harder about my own family and that fear of ever losing any of them. I just can't comprehend his pain of a loss of all of his family. That passage really touched me.
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