We all read books for different reasons. Whether it be for fun, or to get our lives on track (self help, money management etc.,) or just because we are bored. No matter the reason you read, there is usually something out of a book that hooks you and in the end it could give you a new outlook on something.
The last book I finished did both of those things to me.
As a kid, I was a big reader. I’d bring books to bed with me every night. From Biographies to Captain Underpants. It was always a smorgasbord of genres. Over the past several years, i’ve slowly gotten to be less and less of a reader. So as of late, for something to hook me in it had to be something that really jumped off the page to me. When I read the synopsis of Mitch Albom’s #1 New York Times Bestseller, “The Five People You Meet In Heaven”, there was no way I wasn’t reading the book. I’ve never hit complete purchase on Amazon so fast.
In short, it’s about Eddie, an old man who thinks his life hadn’t really meant much/he had no real purpose. Upon his arrival to heaven he meets five different people, from strangers to family, that predeceased him. They show him what his life meant and why he was there and they weren’t. That’s all I will say without giving much away.
Before I go on, I do want to say two things. 1) This book isn’t religious in any way really, although the title may lead on to say differently. And 2) I am not a very religious person, I am agnostic, as I’ve said before. Which pretty much means I don’t fully believe in a Heaven, but I also don’t fully believe there isn’t one either.
With that being said, the part of me that still believes there could be a Heaven has a newfound belief/hope for what Heaven is/could be. The new belief/hope is exactly what Mitch Albom’s book shows.
The idea that when my time comes there will be people guiding me through it, makes it easier to think about death. Whether family or not. I’ve had days where I feel like I don’t have a purpose, or ask what am I doing here? etc.,
While Eddie had no idea that would be the case for him, so he couldn’t choose his people. The people he did meet tell me there is a very good chance one of those people would be my Grandpa Bernie. The person I miss the most.
That’s honestly the most calming thing of it all. To be able to relive moment(s) in our lives together would just be *chefs kiss*. That could be the case for anyone, the person you miss the most could be waiting to do the same.
Not only that, but it seems so interesting to me that there could be a stranger waiting for us. Someone we thought unimportant at one point becoming important. Just the idea that everyone you interact with can take how you interact one way, while you may take it another. Or that one action you do, could impact someone else’s life without you even knowing it. That to me is something so interesting. I didn’t think about it until I read this book.
“The Five People You Meet In Heaven” is one of the best books I have ever read. It makes you think, it hooks you in, and at one point it could even make you let a tear shed. It’s given me a new perspective on something i’m not so sure is even there. But nonetheless I love the idea it’s given me.
