Feb. 8, 2007
Unnaturally Natural
|
Death - ya know for such a natural thing - it sure feels so unnatural. Everyone dies eventually. The old saying has a bit of truth to it "Only two things are sure in life - death and taxes". Maybe a few more than that, but... Death is so natural that when we are born our bodies are already aging. Death is so elusive and so mysterious that we don't really think of it as anything other than a natural ending to life. It's hard to see it fully for what it is until it's enveloped you or someone you love. The process of watching one in those last days of life, something seems so wrong about it. I know it isn't wrong in any way really. It just doesn't feel right. Planning arrangements, knowing soon you'll see your loved ones for the last time and eat your last meal. See that familiar route home or watching your favorite television show for the last time. I dunno - maybe it's just me, but really - for something so natural - it just feels so very unnatural. Makes you realize again how short a life we live. Whether we live to be eighty or don't live past twenty - it's all so brief. Seems the elderly are the ones who know this best. Life just slips away; before you realize you're not so young anymore, and not so healthy anymore. Reminds me of a saying I heard not too long ago: "My greatest fear is not failure, but succeeding at something that really doesn't matter." We only get one trip around this life. It's so easy to become complacent. But, watching one die, a process as natural as birth - you feel so helpless. You would do whatever you could...but there is just nothing to do but provide comfort. I feel so small as I watch this larger-than-life thing called death. |