About Rachael

A moving segment in the Ram Dass Fierce Grace video was an interview with Steve and Anita Isser, the parents of Rachael Isser, a young girl who was murdered when she went to meet a friend at the ball field.  I don't know any of the details because they don't discuss the details in the video..and nothing comes up in the first few pages of google results. 

They are very likeable, "you and I" kind of people, sitting in their kitchen, coffee cups on the table in front of them.  You can hear children playing in the background (they have two other kids) and at one point there is the sound of a train off in the distance.  One feels instant empathy and compassion.  They remain composed as they talk about their daughter's death. Tears break through but they maintain control and are able to speak and tell their story. 

They talk about  a letter they received from Ram Dass, a letter that gave them the courage to go on…a lifeline, a light at the end of the tunnel. The letter was like a catalyst. Both of the Isser's credit the words in the letter as the lifeline that gave them any hope in a hopeless situation.The letter was hand written and had obviously been read many time.  It was wrinkled and the ink was smudged.

Rachael finished her brief work on earth and left the stage in a manner that leaves those of us left behind with a cry of agony in our hearts as the fragile threads of faith are dealt with so violently. Is anyone strong enough to stay conscious through such teachings as you are receiving? Probably very few and even they would only have a whisper of equanimity and spacious peace amidst the screaming trumpets of their rage, grief, horror and desolation.

I cannot assuage your pain with any words, nor should I, for your pain is Rachael’s legacy to you. Not that she or I would inflict such pain by choice, but there it is, and it must burn its purifying way to completion. You may emerge from this ordeal more dead than alive. Or something within you dies when you bear the unbearable and it is only in that dark night of the soul that you are prepared to see as God sees, and to love as God loves.

Now is the time to let your grief find expression. No false strength. Now is the time to sit quietly and speak to Rachael and thank her for being with you these few years and encourage her to go on with her work knowing that you will grow in compassion and wisdom from this experience.

In my heart I know that you and she will meet again…and again and recognize the many ways in which you have known each other. And when you meet you will in a flash know what now it is not given to you to know. Why this had to be the way it was. Your rational minds can never understand what has happened but your hearts, if you can keep them open to God, will find their own intuitive way. Rachael came through you to do her work on earth which included her manner of death. Now her soul is free and the love that you can share with her is invulnerable to winds of changing time and space. In that deep love include me too.

It was a very moving scene in the video.  There is another scene at the end of the video between Ram Dass and a young woman...perhaps in her mid twenties.  She visits him in his home.  She is trying to make sense of the murder of her fiance in a South American country where he was doing some kind of humanitarian work. They had planned to dedicate their lives to helping others. The conversation is touching and it gives the viewer a glimpse into the compassionate, empathetic heart of Ram Dass.  He probably would not fit the criteria of "Christian" to many who claim the name of Jesus as their own, but he displays the nature in a way most Christians can only aspire to (including the author of this post)