All the time I, most likely along with most other people, wonder what will happen after I die. Where will I go? Will I go anywhere? Will I be reunited with my loved ones? Will there be nothing? Will there be a bright light and an old man with a beard waiting for me to arrive for judgment? No one really knows for sure, but this book gives it's own opinion about what happens after death.
In The Five People You Meet In Heaven, written by Mitch Albom, you meet the main character, named Eddie. Eddie lived a simple life. He never did anything extraordinary, never moved, never did what he wanted, and at the end, he was lonely, depressed, and had nothing to live for.
As you read more in the book, you learn more about Eddie's life. He had a wife whom he adored named Marguerite, he served in the Vietnam War, and he worked as the maintenance man at a boardwalk called "Ruby Pier", all his life. Although Eddie, (much like how all of us live our lives), thought he knew everything about his life, he was in fact, very wrong.
The author writes about heaven as a place to truly understand your legacy on Earth in ways you never knew. For example, you are playing in the park with your little brother. You throw a ball at him, and of course, he misses when trying to catch it. You don't want him to run into the street and risk him getting hurt trying to get the ball, so you decide to chase after the ball yourself. You follow it into the street where a car just misses you. You're scared for a moment, but you shake it off, pick up the ball and return to your brother. The car that nearly hit you continues to travel down the street. The driver of that car is trembling, remembering how he almost hit you. Not thinking about the road he swerves around an oncoming car on the road, and hits a tree. The driver dies in the accident. You, still down the street playing ball with your brother, have no idea that this has occurred. You continue to live your life never knowing that you caused the driver's death. Many events such as this, happen all the time, and we never know a thing. I'm not suggesting that you ever killed anyone, but I agree with the author when he says there are many things we don't understand about our lives. In addition to this, Eddie learns many other things about his life such as forgiveness and love. Eddie learns these things through the five people he meets in heaven. The author says that everyone has a different five people they meet, and these are the people who influenced your life the most while on earth.
"Eddie looked lost. 'I figure it's in the Bible, the Adam and Eve deal?' the Captain said. "Adam's first night on earth? When he lays down to sleep? He thinks it's all over, right? He doesn't know what sleep is. His eyes are closing and he thinks he's leaving this world, right? Only he isn't. He wakes up the next morning and he has a fresh new world to work with, but he has something else, too. He has his yesterday.' The Captain grinned. 'The way I see it, that's what we're getting here, soldier. That's what heaven is. You get to make sense of your yesterdays.'" -The Five People You Meet In Heaven, Mitch Albom, pg. 92
I love this book. It's definitely the best book I have ever read, and I suggest it to anyone looking for a great read. I love the way the character is portrayed, I love what he learns, and most importantly, I love thinking that some day I too might get the chance to reunite with my loved ones in heaven.
P.S. I'm sorry if this offends anyone in their religious beliefs, the version of heaven in this book is simply a guess made by the author of what heaven could be like.
