I don’t know why our class discussion about death was so unsettling. I mean, I’ve had family die. My dad died almost 2 years ago. I had a friend in High School that committed suicide by hanging himself. I’ve had pets die. Fish only last a few weeks in the summer, after all. I saw my dog hanging from a tree because he caught himself on a branch while jumping over a fence. I’ve seen movies where people die, and if it was the bad guy, I chuckled uneasily along with the rest of them. Horror movies and video games are my favorite, the best being zombie-shooters and things like the Silent Hill series. People die for no apparent reason, and in those games, you’re encouraged to shoot things and kill them for your own survival.

I know I’m not alone in this, either. Ask any teenager. In most of them, you can find a person that has been to a funeral, had someone important to them die. Most will have had a pet that died, even if it was just a fish or a hamster. They probably have seen an R-rated movie or a risqué PG-13 movie that should have been rated R.

We live in a society where death surrounds us, yet we’re so uncomfortable about it when it is brought out of fiction and into our lives. It makes us uneasy, knowing that one minute, this person could have been sitting right next to us and talking… and the next, they’re dead. Contrary to what some might believe, people don’t die peacefully with their eyes shut. The movies lie! The body releases all muscles, and it is muscles that keep the eyes shut. The dead person’s eyes are open. They have released their bowels. It’s messy… and not everyone is fortunate enough to die on a toilet.

It may be because death seems unnatural to us. It is an absolute in life, like being born, and it scares people. It is scary when one separates their self from it, but when one confronts it and accepts it as natural it becomes easier to not be scared. It’s like having a child confront the monster in their closet, but death is real.

When people die, it’s hard for those that are left behind to realize the deceased is no longer with them. In my case, it made me start to realize my own mortality. My father wasn’t an old man, only early 40’s, yet his heart still gave out, had a heart attack and he died in a hospital early in the morning. My friend that killed himself was only 16, yet he was still so full of displeasure with the world, he decided it wasn’t worth living.

It makes me sad to know this about people. When people find life as not worth living, then what is the real meaning of it to anyone? If it isn’t worth it, then why do we continue on with our lives? A meaning of life can be, as weird as it is, is that there is no meaning. If there is no meaning, then why are we here to begin with?
The only certainties in life are that we were born and we will die. Where we go after is something completely different, and it seems to preoccupy a lot of people and their thoughts. Sure, dying in the first place is scary and will happen one day, but no, that doesn’t bother people until it hits them right in the face. By that point, though, it doesn’t matter much, huh?

So why are people so concerned with what happens after? The main point of a lot of religions is to do well during the life they are given so they can live happily in heaven in the afterlife. Those that don’t do well or misbehave according to what the religion says go to hell. The belief of predestination isn’t as common as it used to be when the Puritan religion was commonplace, but it still stands in some parts of the country. Predestination states that it doesn’t matter what you do in your life, whether you go to heaven or hell is decided before you are born by God.

If predestination is true, then why do people try so hard? Life should be enjoyed, then, and when you die, it shouldn’t be so bad. It’s only when one preoccupies their self with thoughts of the afterlife does the fear of death itself start rising. If where you go it predetermined, then there is no worry. Nothing can change where you go, so why worry about it?

In the Buddhist religion, the belief is that a person’s soul is reborn after the body it inhabits dies and is recycled until Nirvana is reached. If one knows that they will be reborn and not stay “dead” until they reach the ultimate enlightenment, then there shouldn’t be a fear of dying. You get as many chances as it takes to get it right, essentially, so there shouldn’t be a fear of death or what will come.

So why, in the mostly Christian society of the United States, are people so scared of dying? It is natural. It is inevitable. Anything that lives will one day die. Have we become so separated from death that it seems unreal and not natural?

I suppose so. It is something to think about, really. I’m scared of having people around me die, or just a fear of being left all alone with no one alive around, but of dying? No. I’m not scared. It will happen one day, and all I can hope is that death will claim me when I am old. That’s all anyone can really hope for.

So I leave this week’s 1000 words behind me, looking forward to living this life without worry of what happens. Seize the day. This is life, and it’s meant for living. So, why not go live it?