Daily Excerpt: Passing On; Preparing for the Afterlife (Romer) - Meet Joe Black
Excerpt from Passing On: Preparing for the Afterlife by Joanna Romer Meet Joe Black At the beginning of the film Meet Joe Black , Anthony Hopkins’ 65-year-old character is awakened from his sleep one night by a voice saying, “Yes…yes…” He continues hearing the strange voice as time goes on, telling him odd things like: “I want you to get swept away”—until he meets the Angel of Death, played by Brad Pitt. The angel stays with Hopkins’ character, preparing him for death (and also, evidently, learning a thing or two about life for himself). Do we have people in our lives—perhaps angels—who come to us as the time grows nearer to help prepare us for what is to come? This is an interesting thought (and if such beings look like Brad Pitt, we may not mind too much). In Meet Joe Black , the angel helps Hopkins’ character make peace with his family and himself before he passes on. I believe that’s what our angel encounters are for: to help us find peace. The world is constantly pulling th