Reflective Essay: Death

Death. It is something that finds everyone in time; it is unstoppable. When a family member dies we become depressed and that is understandable. It is understandable because that person is gone, never to return to the land of the living. But when someone dies are you sad for them or sad for yourself? Are you upset that they died and that they won’t ever experience the joys of life again or are you sad because you won’t ever see them again? If you are filled with sorrow for yourself then aren’t you being selfish?

Many people wonder what happens to a person after they die. Some say that a person’s soul goes to heaven, if they were good, or to hell, if they were bad. Other people believe in reincarnation of the soul and some people believe that there is nothing after you die. So, naturally most people are afraid of death. Death is the unknown.

When I was seven my grandma died and my family cried for days. We cried because we would miss her and because we knew she should have lived longer. My grandma died in her sixties because of cancer. We hoped that now she was in a better place free from suffering. This belief gave us strength and a since of peace in the idea that she was no longer in pain.

It is said that when a person dies their soul leaves their body. How can we know that for sure? How do we know that living beings even have a soul? It is also said that dying is just the shutting down and failure of the body systems. That a person stops breathing and their heart stops pumping. Therefore, isn’t dying the process of not living?

No one wants their loved ones to die, yet, what would happen if no one ever died? If we could live forever, everyone would be happy for a while, but then things would start changing. People would grow older and older. They would be immortal, yet forever aging. When people reach the age of 80, 90, or even 100 their bodies are slowing down; eyesight and hearing are failing. So if no one died what would people be like at age 200? There would be no quality of life left for them. They would be as close as they could be to death without actually dying. Also, if everyone lived forever the Earth would become overpopulated. People would have no space to live and food sources would start to run low. Eventually people would start wishing that they could die.

Because of life there is death and because of death there is life. They go together. A person is born, they live and then they die. Hopefully that person had a full and happy life and did not die before their time. It is always especially sad when a child dies. They had no time to live. Children should not die before their parents. Yet, death is inevitable and a person’s time spent on earth should be filled with love and happiness, even if it is only for a short while.

Death comes in many forms: disease, old age, injury, murder, and even suicide. A person can die at any time. Who knows what could happen the next day. You could be hit by a car or go to the doctor for an annual check up and find out that you have an untreatable brain tumor. Life is unpredictable. That’s why the saying goes: live life to the fullest, because you don’t know what will happen tomorrow.

It has been said that the moment you are born you start dying. That just means that as the older you get the closer to death you come. Death is a natural part of life. It is unavoidable. You can’t die without living. Death is the escape from life. There is no need to fear death, for it comes to all people in time. There will always be sadness when someone dies. But a person is not really dead as long as they are remembered. The memory of a person lives on forever in the hearts of the people who loved them.

Live, live while you have the chance. Live each day like it is your last. Death will find you when the time is right.