Being the Balance

Many years ago while working for the Pathology department of a major hospital, one of my duties as secretary to the Director of the Autopsy department was to put the names of all the newborn babies that died in the black book. These little ones were nameless and were simply known as 'baby boy' or 'baby girl'. What set them apart was the date and time of birth and death. They were the still born babies. Babies who, for whatever reason, came into this world for the shortest of time, possibly took just a breath or maybe not any breath at all. There were many of these entries of babies that never were, filling pages and pages of the Black Book.

Each of us has the ability to make a difference in what is happening around us, even if it appears to be in the smallest way possible.  Grandmother Pa'Ris'Ha, many years ago, when I asked her why so many babies are born dead, gave a simple but eloquent explanation which I will reiterate in my own words:

She said in so many words, that "Every person, every being that comes into this earth walk, comes for a reason and that is to leave their imprint, their pattern, in the earth.  Not all come for a long time.  Many are born and live long lives.  But there are many who come for just the shortest of times just to leave their pattern in the earth.  These are the messengers.  Each child that comes in and dies shortly after being born or who are still-born comes with a message and they keep coming until their message is heard.  They are like a flower that blooms, opening its petals and leaving its scent,  then closes up, withers and dies.  Whenever you encounter one of these messengers, give a prayer of thanks for their time here.  When you do, they will know their message is received and there will not be so many of them with messages trying to be heard."

I took Grandmother's explanation to heart and daily, while putting their nameless names into the hospital's Black Book I would say "Thank You" to each and every one of them.

One year passed before a nurse came into my office.  Her job was to count the stillborn babies in the book, something she did once each month.  This time was different.  After counting the names of the little ones she turned to me and said, "The numbers of still-borns have been dropping consistently for the last year, and no one knows why."

I remembered the baby I lost back in 1978.  Grandmother's message had affected me profoundly because I remembered saying "Thank you" to my little one.  Before I lost this boy-child, I had a dream wherein I saw a boy being born to me in a breach position.  I waited to see his face but, before I could, the dream ended.  Shortly after having this dream, I became pregnant and lost this baby in my fourth month.  The message did not escape me but it took me a while to get it.   The message this child left with me was that life is precious and not one minute of it can ever be wasted because there are many souls who desire to live this life that don't have the chance to be here or have the opportunity to carry out whatever they came here to do.  The death of my baby brought me out of a severe depression and I was grateful for the message.  I got it.  I had simply said, "thank you".