When I met Graziela Gilioli, author of The Little Doctor, what caught my attention was the legacy that her son left in his life. I was prepared to hear the talk of a mother who lost a child to one of the diseases that afflict us nowadays – cancer – but instead I met a beautiful woman, full of life and kindness to speak of her suffering.

She introduces him as The Little Doctor, but for me, reading the book, Alexander was much more than a doctor, he is a master. With tears in her eyes and often overwhelmed with feelings, I checked every passage from the book, learning that I had to go through the illness and death of my father, Fernando Ferraz.

There are people facing death as real masters. Switching roles and, instead of being supported, it is them who support and teach us. Itseems that they keep their fears and suffering in the closet and board on a mission to protect Family from more pain and worry.

Dr. Ana Claudia Quintana Arantes, palliative care specialist, says that death brings a feeling of the most sublime love ever felt, which makes us believe that this is the main motivation that drives this act of protection. But as I was facing many examples that were similar to Graziela’s and mine, I feel that in fact there are masters that arise when confronted with the finitude of life. If not consciously, they unconsciously end up leaving powerful marks on those who follow them.

When we are introduced to the life lessons by someone on his deathbed, the intensity of learning gains dimensions that are impossible to get restricted to pain and suffering environment. It is as if we were on the mission to transform this nobility of soul on his legacy and perpetuate it in order to help more and more people.

Graziela wrote a book, became a photographer and gives talks about the choice to be happy, even after a great and irreparable loss. The site Let’s talk about grieving? also came up from the desire of honoring our masters. And so several initiatives start (books, movies, NGOs, blogs) that make people change their life projects to fight for a greater cause. Not only related to grieving, but any initiative that shows the importance of taking care of life, human relations and that important lessons learned, should be shared.

I recently read the book Words of Power, Henrique de Freitas Jr., an interview with Monja Coen, and I mention it here in order to inspire them to find and immortalize more teachers who are gone and left good things to be shared.

“When someone you love is gone, it seems that a piece of us goes away with that person, but actually a part of it is also in us, he lives in us. The key is to bring this energy to life in our daily routine. What qualities did that person have that I loved? Will I be able to express these qualities in my life? Thus, the person who is gone is still alive in us.” Monja Coen

We share here the interview with Graziela Gilioli:

(Video Escola Panamericana de Artes, by Elcio Ohnuma).