The Book of Two Ways

by Jodi Picoult

What’s left unfinished? What is it that you haven’t done yet, that you need to do before you leave this life?

Also part of these Coffin Texts was the Book of Two Ways, the first known map of the afterlife.

Just because I get close to something that makes a lot of people uncomfortable doesn’t mean I’m special. It just means I am willing to get close to the things that make people uncomfortable.

“I’m okay with dying. I really am. But I don’t want to do it wrong, you know? Does that sound ridiculous? I just wish I could know what’s going to happen. How I’ll know it’s time.”

It’s not a replacement; it’s more like an echo.

“So…a way to leave a shadow in the world, even when you’re not in it.”

“How come when a woman takes power it’s ambitious? And when a man does it, it’s the natural order of things?” I frowned. “Being politically motivated and being female aren’t mutually exclusive.

But what does it really mean to be good? Is it finding a calling that helps other people? Is it running to the bedside of someone who is dying? Is it putting someone else’s needs before your own? You could argue, I suppose, that any of those actions are about not selflessness, but martyrdom. Driven not by ethics, but guilt.

Who we are is about not what we do, but why we tell ourselves we do it.

“If you only have a little time, make the most of it.”

One thing I’ve always told caregivers and clients is that last words are lasting words.

I believe that there are five things we need to say to people we love before they die, and I give this advice to caregivers: I forgive you. Please forgive me. Thank you. I love you. Goodbye. I tell them that they can interpret those prompts any way they like, and nothing will have been left unsaid.

He nods, grateful to be told what to do. Following directions is so much easier than staring the unknown in the face.