Good morning! It's a beautiful day. The Day of The Dead makes a lot of sense to me as a holiday. I mean, when you look at the numbers, the dead people of the world outnumber the living by a lot.
Sure, they aren't with us anymore, but they deserve to be remembered and honored, in some way more than zombie Facebook accounts.
What Happens When We Die?
What happens when we die?
Do we float up on a cloud,
Where friends and family wait for us,
All happy, well and proud?
Will we listen to the troubles of the world?
Will they be loud?
I'd like to know, what happens when we die?
What happens when we die?
Will we be reborn as snakes,
As we slither evermore,
Paying for our old mistakes?
Will we finally be happy?
Will we realize the stakes?
I wish I knew what happens when we die.
What happens when I die?
Will my soul transform to gas
That floats about the universe
With no substantial mass?
Will I then be the dewdrops
That will form upon the grass?
What happens, O what happens when we die?
Just some Thoughts about Death
In this last year, death has never been far away from my thoughts and my life. I wrote this poem about a year ago, when the unexpected loss of an old friend led me back to some really basic questions. Not only did he die young, but he died a hero, a marine helicopter pilot on a rescue mission. This young man was a success in life by anyone's measure.
This experience helped me realize that I am a very small child when it comes to understanding and accepting death. I hadn't been in touch with my friend the marine in years, and his death still landed on me heavily. I can only imagine what this loss must have felt like for his close friends and loved ones.
It's easy to think that we all have death figured out. It's easy to forget that death is the biggest mystery surrounding life.
When we're very young, we all tend to adopt belief systems surrounding death. Once we reach an understanding of death that is satisfactory, we cease the curiosity. We stop looking at it, and this may be a mistake.
If we accept that we've solved the mystery of death, it is harder to accept occurrences of death in our lives.
Embrace the mystery. Learn from tragedy. Live to the Fullest.
"The undiscovered country, from whose bourne no traveler returns, puzzles the will..."
-William Shakespeare