I’m a martyr, a saint of sinners, and you will fear me in my DETH. – Dethklok
Death. Woo! What a fun topic. Though, this will once again be more or less a continuation of previous posts. There’s a lot to talk about here. Different cultures, different ideals, and how they have all handled death. How it affects who we are and how we are shaped by it. How it changes our behavior once we have thought about it.
Let’s start with me, because let’s be honest here, at this point in time, you are probably in love with me. Yet, you know I am going to die. This makes you heartbroken. You can’t see me go. You don’t want to see me go. But it will happen. There is no denying it. Everyone dies. I think. Me. Oh, and you too! But why is it that when I say things that are so real, and true, that most people in our society will choose to reject that claim. Why has death become taboo to talk about? Or rather, why has death in a personal perspective improper to talk about in casual conversation? Is it because people are uneasy or unwilling to accept it?
The ancient Egyptians are a well-known example for their belief in the afterlife. They had a fascinating view of death, and they had intricate ceremonies for proper burial. I am assuming, that if you were to talk about death then and there, that it would have been a welcome conversation. A family members death would not be a grim affair. The funeral procession, I would imagine would be a more joyous event than the American standard. But don’t quote me on that, at least not until I get my flux capacitor up and running. I believe it was Nick Swardson who had a stand up skit on his own funeral. It should be a fun affair, mixed with techno music, and possibly cocaine.
At the very basic level of understanding, death is a failure of yourself to function. Your organs fail, or are blown up, and shred to pieces. Whatever it is, you stop seeing, hearing, feeling. So what do you care what happens to your body afterwards? You won’t know. Because you are dead. Eventually, down the road, your body will have been destroyed by nature. By time. Why worry about a proper burial? Fuck it. Save time and money. Just dump people out in random places. You won’t care. Other people might, but fuck them too. There is nothing you can do to escape the inevitable.
But people tend to try to create a legacy with which to outlive the demise of their physical body. Whatever your view on death is, whether or not there is reincarnation or Heaven or Hell, the only physical thing that we can do to have our names outlive ourselves it to create a legacy. To make an impact of the world. It doesn’t have to be something on an international level, but just enough to affect one life. That life will have been forever changed thanks to your actions. This is partly why I feel unnecessary to live for myself. I can get all the money in the world, and all the women in the world (and believe me, I can get all the women in the world) but after I die, what would it have been for? Where would all those women go? Back to their own dull and dreary lives that I had provided an escape for. However, if I did something monumental, it would change the whole timeline of things. Whether or not it was meant to happen, I would have now been procured in someone elses memory. Their memory is all I would have, and that is more than enough. It is similar to the constant proverbs of someone living after their death through a persons heart or mind.
Think about it. History’s greatest names. How did they come to be remembered? They had global impacts on the world. Sure, there are records of all the soldiers who have fought during wars that changed the status quo, but it was the leaders who obtain all the credit. That isn’t to say that the many deaths will never be remembered, but as I have mentioned before, their sacrifices will fade over the passing of time. Even your effects on people would have faded over time. So what does anything matter? Why even try for greatness? What good would it ever do? So do we live for ourselves, making ourselves happy? Or do we try to live for other people?
Because unfortunately, it is impossible to do both.
