As a catholic, I have always been taught that above us is Heaven. Heaven is God’s kingdom. It is always sunny and no bad things happen. In Heaven is where you are happily reunited with all those you have lost. It is where God resides with his son Jesus, and where they are always watching over us from.

I have also been taught that below us is hell. Hell is a bad place where it is never sunny and you are alone. Hell is where all the “bad guys” go. The people who are stuck there are the people that aren’t worthy enough to be in God’s kingdom.Personally, hell is not something I fully believe in. Although, it is written in the Bible, I feel that it may be something that the early Christians came up with to almost “scare” us in a way. They wanted to make sure we were following God’s ways, so they told us if we didn’t we would be sent to this awful place where no one would ever want to be.

And after learning about all these different religions in class this year, I was taught all the different beliefs about what happens to you after you leave Earth. For the most part, it was typically some sort of reincarnation. Now reincarnation has never been off the table for me. I think that there probably is some sort of chance that our souls are formed into another, and frankly I think that that is kinda cool.

Despite my suspicions on hell, Heaven is something I fully believe in. I like to think that one day when I’m old and I’ve lived a good life, I will get to go to this place that’s peaceful and happy and I won’t have any worries. I will be reunited with the family and friends that I’ve lost, and all will be good. Of course sometimes I think to myself that maybe Heaven is not where I’ll end up, and maybe it’s just a made up thing to try and get us to do the right things. But Heaven is something I’ve never lost hope in because I know I can’t think that when my time on Earth is over, I’m going to be floating in a void somewhere. That could really start a lot of problems for me.

Last week, my grandmother passed away. She was 88 years old and had been battling with Alzheimer’s for almost 7 years. Her loss has been hard on my family, but the one thing that’s helped us all through it is that, she may not be here on Earth with us anymore, but she is in Heaven, where she’s reunited with her husband and her sister, and all her friends. And after dealing with the Dementia, she’s finally in her place where she can be herself again. She doesn’t have to live in what probably felt like someone else’s body. She can appreciate the world again. That is why I can’t give up hope on heaven, because I need to know that everyone I have lost is truly happy in a better place.