Did you love enough?

I was sitting by the blue waters of the Mediterranean Sea, as Paulo Coelho‘s voice sounded through my rusty Apple earphones. I was listening to the interview of the author of the Alchemist, a book that has sold over 65 million copies, and left traces in the minds and hearts of many. Everyone has to leave this earth one day, that is for certain, he said, and continued, but when you die and you meet God for the first time, he will not ask you what you achieved, what all you did, how many people you met. He will only ask you one question. After a brief pause, he quietly asked, did you love enough?

I felt how his words almost immediately touched me. The tears that must have been welling up were finally released. I let them. I felt the power of his question that was precisely pointing to perhaps the only thing that really matters. It is all about love. More than just in its romantic form, that often comes to our thought first, for it is much more vast than that. It is love for the air we breathe, the water we drink, the shelter that keeps us safe, the earth that holds us. It is the love for art and music and dance that connects the people in a room even when they do not speak the same language. The love for our roots and the volumes of stories we pass on from generation to generation. It is love for ourselves and our people that allows us to forgive. It is compassion and gratitude towards each other for the smallest of things, like a simple smile, or an encouraging word of faith, that passes us by every day. The love the author of the Alchemist is talking about, is the love for life.

Love has been a power of the universe that can ignite your dreams, give you purpose and hope, and can make anything and everything seem possible. A person who loses their hope has in some way lost themselves. Like a wanderer wandering without a compass, he discovers many trails, but none of them lead to his destination. I paused the interview and stood up. With slow and steady steps I walked to the waves that were softly breaking at the shore. Though the climate was warm, the water was still fresh, but I kept going without hesitation. And as I let my body loose and float in the water, I felt the force of buoyancy carrying me. I began to cry. They were tears of joy. I was so grateful to be alive, to get this chance at life, to try and to hope, to learn and to grow, so that when I ask myself, did I love enough, I can close my eyes in peace believing that I did.