Why we are here
A personal story told by Daniela Reiter
Blows dealt by fate can hit us hard. Regardless of whether the person affected is yourself or someone from your immediate circle, everyone will make their first contact with death sooner or later. A topic which is still somewhat of a taboo - even today. Even more so the related subjects of murder and suicide.
The blow that fate struck upon our family turned my father’s life upside down. And we, the descendants, are still reeling from this experience. The grief our father always managed to suppress always gave my brother and I the feeling that there is something unspoken between him and us that kept us apart.
My father had lost both of his parents before he even reached the age of 18. He and his younger sister were left behind alone. A priest at a Catholic church refused to help them. He told my father and his sister that there was no room on his cemetery for mortal sin.
Thankfully, such incidents have become rare in this day and age.
My father, however, was scarred by this experience forever. He left his home region and began a new life in a different state. This attempt to flee from it all ultimately led to a delayed grief reaction. The experience that troubled my father gave us our inspiration. People who experienced or were made to suffer a stroke of fate need something that will help them gain a firmer grasp of the situation. Something that offers them support during their grieving process.
The topic of burial and the question as to what will remain after you are dead remained ever present in our family discussions. That is what prompted us to look for alternatives. Our idea of transforming the ashes of dearly departed loved ones into sapphires and rubies made it possible for our father to finally deal with his grief after all these years. And, we want to enable other people to accomplish the same.
After many years of running away from it, our father was finally able to confront his grief in peace. He is now even in a position to relate stories about his parents. Now, at the age of 30, he showed me a photo of my grandparents for the first time.
"Pictures always return me to the same situation, no matter how far back the event occurred. A gemstone shapes our thoughts for decades or, sometimes, generations.” Mevisto lends their assistance not only to those immediately affected but also to the generations living through the aftermath. A memory is created.
Mevisto has helped us confront death on a continual basis. There would be something missing in our lives without it. We have now gained the ability to look at life and death with different eyes. What helped us tremendously was the capacity to come to terms with our own transience. The idea of being transfigured into a gemstone ourselves one day draws a smile on our faces.
Our intention is not to make money with death. Naturally, as a business we need to pursue economic goals as well in order to, for instance, cover our cost of labor and investments, but the primary objective that drives Mevisto is an emotional one. Our wish is to render our support to people who had to endure something similar.
This is the reason why my job is my vocation. A passion.
“Why do we exist?” – we can answer this question with our creed that says “We want to help people in mourning create something that is here to stay“.