There’s nothing like thinking about death to focus your mind on how you really feel about life. I’ve been thinking about death a lot recently — for various reasons — and it’s left me loving life even more.
A couple of people have recently talked to me about wanting to die. That hits me hard, because I see both of them as having the capacity to have long and fulfilling lives ahead of them and because it’s so different from how I feel about life.
At the risk of sounding obvious, the specifics of life can be terribly difficult. I’m certainly not where I want to be. I don’t have the love or money or position or achievements that I’d like to have. I frequently don’t know how to get from where I am now to where I’d like to be — how to bring the vivid picture in my mind into being. But I’ve never lost hope. When Death comes for me, he’ll have to carry me kicking and screaming if he wants to take me.
Another reason I’ve had death on my mind this week is because of the death of a baby in a family on my street a week ago. The little boy was born six or eight weeks ago with serious problems. They were problems that could be fixed with surgery, but he had to get stronger to survive the surgery. He never got strong enough, so he died. His parents never got to hold him until the last moments when the life was slipping away from his tiny body.
Suicide ends pain of depression, but scars loved ones left behind
Without things to look forward to, the human heart gets ready to die
A year later, my father’s death looms large, but I have no regrets
For an American church, the Fourth of July should be just another day
A bully picked a fight that night — and now I’m dreaming about it
Head and heart don’t agree about love, including Valentine’s Day
Conservatives betray their own values when they mimic enemies
Evil and idiocy stripping away veneer of western civilization
We will destroy ourselves if we don’t learn to love our enemies