Nothing So Certain

Death is our destiny. It is the penultimate definer of life. If one does not comprehend one’s own mortality then the present life’s meaning is diluted. It cannot be denied that one begins dying at the moment of birth. Nothing about life is guaranteed in contrast to the absolute certainty of death. We, the living, know absolutely nothing about the time and place of our death. One of the criticisms of adolescent humans is that they behave as if they were never going to die. They are not alone. This week’s TIME focuses on the gains that are being made to prolong human life. A whole slew of documentaries explore virtual immortality, schemes by which we supposedly will never die. Consider for a moment capital punishment. The ultimate punishment is considered to be death. Murder by any other name is imposing death by taking life. We kill to live. And yet we all die. I cannot apologize for inviting our closer attention to death because by so doing we may gain a far greater appreciation for this fleeting and precious miracle we call life. Only when we accept our inescapable death can we begin to put our lives in context.