Breu i preciosa

Sam Francis 1952

«Quan va morir el meu marit, com que era tan famós i conegut per no ser creient, molta gent s'acostava a mi —encara passa de vegades— i em preguntava si en Carl va canviar al final i es va convertir a la creença en una vida després de la mort. També em pregunten sovint si crec que el tornaré a veure. En Carl va afrontar la seva mort amb un coratge incansable i mai va buscar refugi en il·lusions. La tragèdia va ser que sabíem que no ens tornaríem a veure mai més.

No espero retrobar-me mai amb en Carl. Però el millor és que quan vam estar junts, durant gairebé vint anys, vam viure amb una viva apreciació de com de breu i preciosa és la vida. Mai vam trivialitzar el significat de la mort fent veure que era alguna cosa més que una separació final.

Cada moment que vam estar vius i vam estar junts va ser miraculós, no miraculós en el sentit d'inexplicable o sobrenatural. Sabíem que érem beneficiaris de l'atzar... Que el pur atzar podia ser tan generós i tan amable... Que ens podíem trobar, com va escriure en Carl tan bellament a Cosmos, ja saps, en la immensitat de l'espai i la immensitat del temps... Que poguéssim estar junts durant vint anys. Això és una cosa que em sosté i és molt més significativa... La manera com em va tractar i com jo el vaig tractar a ell, la manera com ens vam cuidar l'un a l'altre i a la nostra família, mentre ell va viure. Això és molt més important que la idea que el veuré algun dia.

No crec que torni a veure mai més en Carl. Però el vaig veure. Ens vam veure. Ens vam trobar al cosmos, i això va ser meravellós."

Ann Druyan (1949), tercera esposa de Carl Sagan.

Text original:

“When my husband died, because he was so famous and known for not being a believer, many people would come up to me-it still sometimes happens-and ask me if Carl changed at the end and converted to a belief in an afterlife. They also frequently ask me if I think I will see him again. Carl faced his death with unflagging courage and never sought refuge in illusions. The tragedy was that we knew we would never see each other again.

I don't ever expect to be reunited with Carl. But, the great thing is that when we were together, for nearly twenty years, we lived with a vivid appreciation of how brief and precious life is. We never trivialized the meaning of death by pretending it was anything other than a final parting.

Every single moment that we were alive and we were together was miraculous -not miraculous in the sense of inexplicable or supernatural. We knew we were beneficiaries of chance... That pure chance could be so generous and so kind... That we could find each other, as Carl wrote so beautifully in Cosmos, you know, in the vastness of space and the immensity of time... That we could be together for twenty years. That is something which sustains me and it’s much more meaningful... The way he treated me and the way I treated him, the way we took care of each other and our family, while he lived. That is so much more important than the idea I will see him someday.

I don't think I'll ever see Carl again. But I saw him. We saw each other. We found each other in the cosmos, and that was wonderful.”