Life and Death — We Are a Strange Species

Yet that’s the thing. None of us knows whether we have a minute or years left. She could not know about or prevent a sudden aneurism and from one moment to the next, she was gone, her brain flooded and dissolving. There was too much damage to even begin repair.

She was gone. Where to depends on religious and spiritual beliefs. Her material remains are already in the ground. Is there any more to her and, if so, where is that?

This could happen to any of us at any minute. We are a strange species. We are born and soon find out that life will be temporary, the dates of illness or death unknown to us. It is difficult enough to live with this knowledge for most of us and we try not to think about it too much.

There are many strategies that we humans use in addition to denial, disconnection, belief in an afterlife, etc. and I do not need to list them as we all know them very well. In fact, it doesn’t really matter if you try to prepare or not.

My friend was about to take an evening bath and I’m sure had other things on her mind. Her husband was in the living room reading a book. An ordinary evening, the quotidian.