Many, if not most of us, do not know about or much about hospice…until there comes a need for it in our lives. There came a need in our family's life, when my mother died nearly two years ago. Kind, knowledgeable, compassionate. Hospice was there. Quietly, gently, at the hospital in South Carolina where my mother died. And when I returned home here I visited an Alive Hospice counselor in Nashville. The experience was the same. Someone, trained, who quietly, kindly, gently held a sacred space for me in my grief, just as the hospice workers had done in South Carolina.

Stephen Jenkinson, a Harvard-trained Theologian and a prophet of hospice care, is the subject of a unique film, "Griefwalker." See five-minute trailor below. Thurs., October. 21, "Griefwalker" will show 7-9:30 p.m. in the Harrambee Auditorium of the Scarrit Bennett Center. Donations of $10 will benefit Nashville's Alive Hospice. And, on Sat., October. 23, Jenkinson will present "Grief, Walking: The Soul of a Well-Lived Life" from 9-4. For more information: www.griefwalkernashville.com.

  
Honestly: I don't know what exactly to make of this film. Reviewing it deserves more time, again frankly, that I was able to give in my current constraints. I was drawn to the topic because I write about Grief. Grief in my life has taken the forms of Job Loss, Divorce and the diagnosis of Autism and the myriad manifestations of ongoing Life. My mother's death was the first opportunity in my adult life to experience the Grief of losing an immediate family member. I searched for descriptive words about this film that candidly reflects how we inadequately deal with death in our western culture. As I searched beyond my descriptions of the film as contemplative-mind-engaging-deeply thought provoking; moving Canadian landscape and cinematography, excellent directing; touching relationship between a gifted filmmaker, Tim Wilson, and the subject–Jenkinson, plus the fascinating real-life character of Jenkinson himself…as I embeded the film's trailor above, I again heard Jenkinson's words from the film. These words below, from Jenkinson, encapsulate his valuable message:

"Grief is a skill. The twin of grief as a skill of life, is the skill of being able to praise or love life. Which means whenever you find authenticly done, the other is close at hand. Grief and the praise of life side by side."

While, at least in this moment in time for me, this is difficult for me to fully intellectually absorb, I believe what he is saying is another way. He speaks through the prism of the Death of Life to say what I try to communicate through my blog here, my book(s), speaking and through my own life experiences….We have Grief and we have Life. They are inseparable. We cannot run from Grief. And…to fully embrace our lives–we embrace the Grief that Life brings. Throughout. And, in it's ending. To this film…I hope I do a shred of justice….Gratitude to Wilson, Jenkinson and Alive Hospice and the profession of hospice care. More viewing info at: http://films.nfb.ca/griefwalker.

*Griefwalker was a 2008 selection at the Atlantic Film Festival and Montreal World Film Festival.