"Goose" by Sophie Sharum, contributed by Sophie Sharum (2025)
Burial is a long-held tradition in every society and culture—it is a way to represent the return of the body to the earth, where it came from and where it will sustain future life. While walking along the river to class, I caught sight of a dead goose. Despite the wind and the rush of traffic behind me, the quiet sound of the water was more powerful. Here was this goose, alone and untended, but yet here was nature, reclaiming what was once its own.
After seeing the goose, I could not help but think of all those who have not had a proper burial. Whether bodies were lost in natural disasters, war, massacres, or other such tragedies, we all end up in the same place, reunited with nature. There is unity after death for us all, regardless of the social ties, or lack thereof, we had on earth. Upon seeing the goose, I realized that this unity overwhelms all other material aspects of life and makes obsolete some of the things we stubbornly value during our limited time together. We value superficial social ties. Monetary and material goods. Impermanent achievement. But, it is reassuring in the deepest sense of the word that all of this will fade when we come back to our roots in the end.
