The Nature of Death

Death is a facet of life you were never taught in school, much like how to do taxes or how to go through heartbreak with your girlfriend of 2 years, the one you thought you’d marry and have kids with, the one you’ve picked names of the kids you thought you’d have together. No, like all things that matter in life, death is something every one must learn on their own and what’s interesting about this specific life construct is that it is one of those lessons you cannot pull up on youtube or google.

No. You are called for the experience by nature’s demand and I promise you, no matter how tough or strong you think you are, a loved one’s death will bring you to your knees. Tears will come out at random times. A specific fragrance, or a memory of you going to the movies to watch Limitless with your grandfather, or how you fought with your dad about that Latina chick who he told you was bad news (he was right). Once you are placed in the arena of sorrow, you may seem alone and things don’t make sense.

Why did it have to happen now?
Why couldn’t it wait just a few more years, where I would’ve had the finances to take them to that location I know they always wanted to visit but couldn’t.

No. Nature does not cooperate on your time. And I don’t speak on nature like some atheist who doesn’t believe in God or a higher power. I use nature as a filler word for whatever it is that decides it is time. Time for you to grow up. Time for you to tell your boss to go fuck himself. Time for you to undergo life threatening surgery to remove a life-threatening tumor. It is never on your time, but you still play because you are not a benchwarmer. No. That is for people who gave up on everything, those who don’t see reality for what it is.

Life and death. Two of the biggest antonyms, yet without one, the other would cease to exist. Energy is indestructible. Energy is motioned one way so it must go in another. But life, you see is different. The birth of a human being equals the death of a human being. One in and one out. If no one ever died, births would not be celebrated, they would even be discouraged (far more than the liberals are discouraging it now). That is why when one is born it brings great happiness and joy, that is the energy going one way. When one dies it brings sorrow and bottomless pits of despair, that is the energy going another. Even a weak, pencil-necked physicist dork can understand this.

For every action in nature there is an equal and opposite reaction -Newton's Third Law of Motion

And we all might understand this right now, when things are okay, or even great. But when time comes, and it will, for every single one of you, we will forget this phenomenon of energy transfer and will be in the deepest state of pain that we have never witnessed (until you will). You may feel like screaming in hysteria, punching the shower walls as the heat dissipates through your hair and onto your scalp. Tears being washed away by another. Yet we must witness this. It’s not a school day where you can cut class, or cancel a date with Michelle from Kyma in Manhattan, or not show up to your first sales call because you got nervous of being rejected. When nature calls, you will answer, whether you want to or not. I wish I could have some words to guide you through it and maybe one day I will, but for now I will leave you with this thought.

Every thing that is beautiful can and WILL be destroyed, or at least attempted to be destroyed in some way. That long, difficult expedition up a hill or mountain can be grueling, 10s of thousands of steps climbed, mosquitos biting you, shrubbery blocking your vision of what is out there, until you finally get to the top. And to your fascination, you see what you went through, and more importantly. What’s out there in this world. The same grand forest you see thousands of feet in the sky can be wiped out within a few hours from one small ember of your menthol American Spirit on the wrong flammable leaf. From a sea of blue in the sky and an ocean of green on the ground, to a fiery monsoon of flames enveloping the entire scenery to an arena of ashes, blackness, nothingness. All this to prove what used to be, a place of beauty, happiness, joy, excitement.

Likewise is the manner in death of a loved one. We forget to appreciate what we have until it’s no longer there to remind us. So when the time comes, be prepared to go through what you’ve never been through before but brace through, because you must. As this is the pact we signed by experiencing the joys and love of being with that person. The good energy must one day be counteracted with the bad. And the cycle repeats with new endeavors. But don’t set up camp in your cave of distress, keep moving forward as stagnation is far worse than good or bad energy. It is nothingness. It is you placed in the middle of the Atlantic, nothing in sight, nothing to save you, treading until you no longer can. Pulled to the deepest depths of the ocean to suffocate and be crushed by the pressure. Fight against the current and keep moving. Embrace those you still have and embrace those you had the pleasure of being with. This is what life is. And this is also what death is.

Now. Light up a cig, grab a glass of wine, and listen. Let the smoothness soothe over your scars and help you understand you are not alone in your feeling. But we all persevere one way or another, and you will too.