Saying “Thank You” and “Goodbye”

BRIGHT HORIZON HOSPICE – SAYING “THANK YOU” AND “GOODBYE”

(name),

Thank you for all you have given me, your family, friends and
the world. You have impacted my life with
your love, your caring and your wisdom.
Now that you are gone, I will carry all your
love and everything I learned from you
within me. The essence of who you were as
a person will live within me. The essence of
who you were as a person will live within
me and within others. You will continue to
give to the world as we pass on to others
what we learned from you. I will miss you,
but will have joy in remembering all you
meant to me. Each thing you touched will
bring you to mind. Your laugh, your smile,
your words will resound in my mind and
heart. Goodbye, dear one.
— Helen Meier, Hope Hospice, Dublin, CA

Christian

Let not your hearts be troubled: believe in
God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house
are many rooms; if it were not so, would I
have told you that I go to prepare a place for
you? I will come again and will take you to
myself, that where I am you may be also.
— John 14: 1-3

Jewish

We rejoice over a birth and mourn over
a death. But we should not. For when
a man is born, who knows what he will
do or how he will end? But when a
man dies, we may rejoice — if left a
good name and this world in peace.
— Jewish Midrash, Ecclesiastes Rabbah 7:1 (4)

Buddhist

Light without equal, so pure; Beauty without peer, so serene; We desire to be reborn with you. Power without limits, so strong; Glory without end, so majestic; We desire to be reborn with you.

Muslim

Know, beloved, that we cannot understand
the future world until we know what death
is; and we cannot know what death is until
we know what life is; nor can we understand
what life is until we know what the spirit is —
the seat of the knowledge of God.
— Al-Ghazali (1058-1111),

Muslim medieval mystic

Native American

As I walk,
The universe is walking with me
In beauty it walks before me
In beauty it walks behind me
In beauty it walks below me
In beauty it walks above me
Beauty is on every side
As I walk, I walk with beauty
— Traditional Navajo Prayer

Hindu

Never fear that old age will invade that
city; never fear that this inner treasure of
all reality will wither and decay. This knows
no age when the body ages; this knows no
dying when the body dies. This is the real
city of Brahman; this is the Self, free from old
age, from death and grief, hunger and thirst.
In the Self all desires are fulfilled.
— Chandogya Upanishad