Pexels/Petr Ganaj
The dragonfly has become a symbol for those who are grieving the loss of a loved one.
I had just learned about the Dragonfly Story from my neighbor who had lost her son to cancer. This dragonfly was just hanging around me in the yard, so I went in to get my camera. The first pictures I shot weren’t quite as good as I’d hoped after downloading them. I went back out and unbelievably, the dragonfly was still in my yard. I shot a few more pictures, this time getting a couple of great shots. As the story shows, the dragonfly honors all people who have left this life.
Here’s the story:
“In the bottom of an old pond lived some grubs who could not understand why none of their group ever came back after crawling up the lily stems to the top of the water. They promised each other that the next one who was called to make the upward climb would return and tell what had happened to him. Soon one of them felt an urgent impulse to seek the surface; he rested himself on the top of a lily pad and went through a glorious transformation which made him a dragonfly with beautiful wings. In vain he tried to keep his promise. Flying back and forth over the pond, he peered down at his friends below. Then he realized that even if they could see him they would not recognize such a radiant creature as one of their number.
The fact that we cannot see our friends or communicate with them after the transformation which we call death is no proof that they cease to exist.” –Walter Dudley Cavert, Remember Now
Learn more about the story and The Dragonfly Project at dragonflyproject.org.
