In the novel The Five People You Meet In Heaven by Mitch Albom, death is revealed to an old man named Eddie. He works in an amusement park called Ruby Pier. As an attempt to rescue a little girl from a falling roller coaster, his life is hopelessly taken from him. As the book continues, it is revealed that Eddie was never truly satisfied with his life. His father treated him like he would amount to nothing in the world and didn't really ever aknowledge his existence. Eddie also served in the military during the Veitnam war. He eventually meets five people that had a great impact on his life, reguardless if Eddie had ever seen them before. These people changed Eddies life forever, and vise versa. For example, Eddie's captain during the war, simply called Captain, meets Eddie in heaven. However heaven is the war, just reinacted. My favorite quote is said by the Captain when he states, "dying?Not the end of everything,We think it is. But what happens on earth is only the beginning."(91)The point of the introduction to these five people is that things can change within the blink of an eye wether you know it or not. Also to realize that when your are dead on earth, you still have much more to learn about your past. You will always and forever be accountable for your actions, good or bad.
This book has really made me consider the belief of meeting certain people when people go to heaven. I have always wondered if they reunite with their loved ones, or if they simply meet new people who don't live on earth any longer. This book is very interesting because I have never considered the theory that people encounter meeting others who have died because of their incident or mistake. One of the most crucial parts in the book is at the very end. Eddie meets the girl that he attempted to rescue during a bombing of Veitnam from the U.S. He runs in a building to save her, but it is too late. The Captain has to even shoot him from not getting himself killed in the fire. As the unite in heaven, Eddie sees the girl with burns on her face, arms, back, and sides. She then asks Eddie to scrape away the burns in a river. As he does so, her skin becomes healthy and normal in seconds. This shows that although mistakes have their consequenses, once you take responsibility for your actions, people learn to put it behind them and move on. This book has proudly given me a different view of the afterlife, which gives me another answer to my question.
Albom, Mitch. the Five People You Meet in Heaven. New York: Edwin H. Morris, 2003.
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