I’ve wanted to write about death for some time now. A couple of unexpected ‘incidents’ that happened to people I know really got me thinking, not only about death’s inevitability, but of its thief-like quality.
When you’re young, you think of death as something that mostly happens to people who’d lived a full life already. Or maybe to people who are past the prime of their lives. Certainly, death isn’t hounding someone who’s barely out of college, someone who just got married, someone receiving her first pay check. You think to yourself: “I’m young, I’m invincible.”
That’s how I used to think. Now: paradigm shift. The knowledge of someone a couple of years older getting sick, slowly deteriorating, and having a respirator as his only connection to life is a big wake-up call. I’ve also heard of someone pass on in his sleep – his young wife dumbfounded about what to do next. And of course, a recent celebrity lost her spouse to a fatal illness. This child-star turned actress is about my age and I’m sorry that she has to deal with the grief of losing someone on such a young stage in her life. Things can happen so fast – unexpectedly fast. One time you’re alive and kicking and the next moment you don’t know what hit you.
All these things gave me a taste of my own mortality. You never really know when the reaper will get you. Yes, I’m kind of scared thinking about it but that doesn’t change the fact that death is real and to it age is just a number. I don’t want to creep you out guys; I’m just sharing a realization that is often put aside because of fear. Yes, we know it will come but we still take each moment for granted. So as ‘gasgas’ this might sound: smell the coffee, say “I Love You”, live like it’s your last day, live without regrets, learn to say “no”. Always ask: if this was my last 24 hours on earth, what would I want to do? How do I want to spend it?
*Post title borrowed from Ian Rankin’s Mortal Causes, the seventh novel of the Inspector John Rebus series.
*Image from here.
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