I have been thinking a lot about death lately. Not that I wish to start 2012 on such a sombre note but with age catching up on me, and also the people around me, maybe I should start taking our mortality a little more seriously. I used to think dying would be just like falling into a deep, peaceful slumber...only that it's for an infinite amount of time. It didn't used to scare me, in fact I accepted it as a natural progression from life. Lately however, I've been having different sentiments about death. I wish I can delay it or better yet, eliminate the inevitable completely, not so much as for myself but for the people I know and love.
I've only experienced death once. My paternal grandfather died 11 years ago and the whole ordeal was surreal. It was hard to coming to terms with losing someone you used to see every day. I remember someone telling me "Take one last look before we seal the coffin". The finality of that one single act is astonishing, it hits you once again that the person is gone from you, from this world forever. Even the lifeless body no longer contains the person you once knew, it's merely a shell, stripped bare from his or her soul.
I wonder how dying feels like. Painful, tormenting, what kind of emotions will pass, what our last thoughts will be. I don't think it will be entirely painless. Breathing is a natural instinct and when we die, we cease to breathe. Suffice to say, struggling to breathe will be no walk in the park. Much like drowning, gasping for air. Death goes against everything we have been accustomed to in this life. Breathing, surviving, living...Or maybe life and death are just two sides of the same coin.
I read this on my friend's Facebook wall once, that in creating life, we are also simultaneously creating death. The paradox of living, only to eventually die boggles my humble mind.
No comments:
Post a Comment