My Problem with Death

There is a moment in life in which trivial things of great concern stop being so important, when minute problems or aggravations simply disappear, when the things we spend so much time and energy on are suddenly the last things on our mind. Bills that have yet to be paid, the book you never picked up, the brown spots on your lawn, the latest gossip from the lady next door, that car your always wanted... all this and more fall away in the face of death. You forget past transgressions and your transgressors are suddenly apologetic. No matter what the quarrel, whether it was with your father for sneaking out to go see a concert, or with a teammate on the high school volleyball team for taking the title of captain, or with that attractive regular at the bar who never called back, and no matter how old the problem, suddenly, none of it matters.

That's my problem with death.

It's an escape, and one that many willing take, even though it may not be there time. Death is a problem solver, an end all solution. To me, death is an expiration date stamped on the back of our necks; it's always a secret, but once others discover it, it becomes an excuse to change things, to apologize, to make things right... But why do we wait?

Why wait for your father to be on his death bed to tell him that you love him? Why wait for your grandfather's passing to suddenly become curious as to his youth? Why beg your brother for forgiveness after he's fallen into a coma he may never come out of? Why do we seem to subconsciously wait for a musician to pass away to listen to his music? Why is an artist's painting more valuable when they're post-humorous?

Why is a human's life suddenly more valuable in death?

Don't wait, because life waits for no one. Remind the ones you love that you love them, even if they sometimes drive you crazy; if they're not driving you up the wall one day because they're trapped in a mahogany box under 3 feet of earth, you might be surprised as to how much you miss being irritated. Ask for forgiveness when you should or risk living with that guilt all your life, risk all possibility of being forgiven.

But death is nothing to be afraid of; its a normal, natural thing that happens to all living things. In the words of Peter Pan, "To die will be an awfully big adventure." But waiting to live when you're knocking on death's door is too little too late. Don't fear life either; no one gets out alive anyway.

Love always, laugh often, and live freely.