Staring into the maw of our demise
Yesterday, I shared this Tweet.
It was no accident, not least because I’d be listening to Die Wise on the way to work and (once again) heard Jenkinson make this statement.
And not for the first time, it made me think deeply about my own life and/or death expectation, no doubt influenced by the cultural malaise that I continue to wrestle with.
Think about it.
We hear lots of talk about living up to our potential, being all we can be and making the most of our life but rarely, if at all, does anyone talk about endings until we get there — i.e. to the end of our life.
Should we?
I think so but of course that’s in opposition to the ‘living a full life’ et al. that fills the airwaves, which now has the hue of a god-given right. As in, if we don’t live to 85 or beyond, well, we must have done something wrong; namely, not exercised enough, or eaten enough broccoli etc. or fallen foul of some holier-than-thou statement about how we should be living out our days.
I’ve tried to raise this subject with a few people and you can tell by the lack of interest and/or indifference that no one wants to contemplate endings of any kind. Sure, we talk about the workings of the body and the mind and the fact that they’re in decline but not death — not that subject; how bloody awful.
I don’t know what past generations were like but I do know that death came a lot earlier and absent high-tech healthcare there didn’t exist the expectation that every medical condition could successfully be treated. In that space, and not that I’m advocating for a white-knuckle, pain-ridden fight but there was such a thing as a natural death and not something where, as I’ve witnessed, the person more likely died by dint of the meds (diamorphine) than they did the disease.
And my point?
Well, all I’m advocating for is a much more open and considered conversation about the meaning of life informed by the fact that there’s no guarantee — or none that I know of — that when we go to sleep, we’ll awake the following day.
Heavy stuff for sure but as worthwhile as any other subject I can think of right now.
Blessings,
Julian