I know I’m not unique when it comes to this, but I have a strange fascination with death. My last post was about how stars die and, in a sense, how I wish to die when the time comes. While I’m not suicidal or anything close to it, I do frequently find myself thinking of my own mortality, the meaning of life and what will happen to my kids when I’m gone.
And that’s another thing, my kids. They’re still very young but our conversations are starting to become more challenging. We recently had to discuss racism and that was a little tough. Not because we are shielding them or don’t want them to see the reality of racism, but because they could not comprehend the idea of someone not liking someone else simply because of the color of their skin. The line that made me stop and just smile was when my kid said:
“We all have a heart and we all have a brain. Why would the color of your skin matter?”
Indeed.
But death is another one of those topics that is getting more and more attention in our discussions. We were talking about elephants and ivory because that was the topic at school that day and the issue of death came up. My oldest asked, “Why do people kill animals if they’re not going to eat them?”
My kids understand where meat comes from. They understand that an animal must die in order for us to eat meat. They also understand that people can get hurt or get sick and die. But I wonder: do they comprehend that all humans die, regardless of accidents and sickness? I don’t want to ask them that yet and I’m not sure why. Is it because I don’t want them to understand that indeed, WE ALL die? Will they lie in bed thinking about that the way I used to when I was a kid?
As I stated, I’m fascinated by death for some strange reason and it’s not because I wonder about what happens when we die. I don’t believe in deities that are immortal and I don’t see death as some creepy entity roaming around with a sickle and hanging out at hospitals or convalescent homes. To me, it’s simple: we are born, we live, we die. There is no afterlife and there is no soul that keeps living after death.
Where were you before you were born? Besides those loonies who think they were a queen in Egypt or some kind of knight in England in a former life, the answer is simple: you did NOT exist before birth. Death is like that, you seize to exist. Death is simply the opposite of life: nothing. That is what happens when you die. We may leave behind works of art, buildings and of course, family, but after death, consciousness ceases. We only live on in the memories of others, in pictures, videos or sound recordings.
Joe Rogan wrote a piece for Maxim magazine and compared building up your body to a sand castle. It’s only temporary and then, as he puts it, the wheels fall off. It’s a sad reality and one that inches closer the older we get.
I’ve written before about what life means to me and I still stand by that. I want to instill this in my kids, when the appropriate time comes:
We are mortal and life is short. Don’t hurt others, enjoy life and make it count!
