death
Death sucks.
A couple weeks ago a friend of mine lost his father. The father had been admitted into a hospital for a medical emergency, and passed away while my friend was en route to there.
About a week ago I learned that the cancer my dad had been battling on and off for the past 15 years, was now terminal. He's got a year hopefully, maybe even two or three depending on the effectiveness of the treatments he's getting now, but he won't be recovering from this.
Then just yesterday, I lost an uncle (one of my mom's brothers). He had been in declining condition for a while now with heart problems, but his passing was still rather sudden.
Dammit. I need some Grim Reaper Repellent.
I don't believe in an afterlife. The whole concept never made much sense to me, except as a human invention as a primitive way to teach morals and also as a comforting way of dealing with the grief of death. Me, I find no comfort in this kind of wishful thinking. For the person who dies, death is the end. It is oblivion. It is no more thinking, feeling, remembering, or experiencing.
For those around the deceased, death is a phase transition. When a person is alive, they are in your past, present, and future. Your past as memories of that person, your present as interactions & experiences with that person, and your future as future plans & events with this person. When they die, they are no longer a part of your present or your future, only your past. You will never again have new meetings, events, talks, or experiences with this person. They are forever-more removed from our lives, residing only in the untouchable, unreachable past.
If I'm sounding a bit fatalistic or nihilistic right now, I don't mean to. If anything, death should be a reminder of just how precious our own lives are. We shouldn't squander it with petty worries, or making life unpleasant for others. (If only the politicians would take that to heart!) Life really is a great thing to experience, and the longer you can live, the better. As for myself, I'm hoping to live a nice long time--not so much because I fear death, but because I just love living. I don't want to miss a thing!
A couple weeks ago a friend of mine lost his father. The father had been admitted into a hospital for a medical emergency, and passed away while my friend was en route to there.
About a week ago I learned that the cancer my dad had been battling on and off for the past 15 years, was now terminal. He's got a year hopefully, maybe even two or three depending on the effectiveness of the treatments he's getting now, but he won't be recovering from this.
Then just yesterday, I lost an uncle (one of my mom's brothers). He had been in declining condition for a while now with heart problems, but his passing was still rather sudden.
Dammit. I need some Grim Reaper Repellent.
I don't believe in an afterlife. The whole concept never made much sense to me, except as a human invention as a primitive way to teach morals and also as a comforting way of dealing with the grief of death. Me, I find no comfort in this kind of wishful thinking. For the person who dies, death is the end. It is oblivion. It is no more thinking, feeling, remembering, or experiencing.
For those around the deceased, death is a phase transition. When a person is alive, they are in your past, present, and future. Your past as memories of that person, your present as interactions & experiences with that person, and your future as future plans & events with this person. When they die, they are no longer a part of your present or your future, only your past. You will never again have new meetings, events, talks, or experiences with this person. They are forever-more removed from our lives, residing only in the untouchable, unreachable past.
If I'm sounding a bit fatalistic or nihilistic right now, I don't mean to. If anything, death should be a reminder of just how precious our own lives are. We shouldn't squander it with petty worries, or making life unpleasant for others. (If only the politicians would take that to heart!) Life really is a great thing to experience, and the longer you can live, the better. As for myself, I'm hoping to live a nice long time--not so much because I fear death, but because I just love living. I don't want to miss a thing!
posted by Unknown at
8/01/2006 12:13:00 PM
1 Comments:
when the time comes, then no time can stop it. I had this rush of death over a few years, my granpa, uncle and granma. Its scary being humans and cant be able to accept death.
By
gP, at 2:33 AM, August 14, 2006
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