Spring Break
Swing open before me the doors...
Dan Fitzpatrick
Issue date: 5/13/08 Section: Forum
Whenever somebody we know dies, we recognize it as tragic. No amount of philosophizing can prepare us for the departure of a loved one, nor can it adequately comfort us after the fact, because life is never completely covered by our intellectual understanding. The only way to understand mortality is to live, and so every attempt to approach the subject intellectually will inevitably fall short.
Still, there is at least one thing that I know to be certain: I am going to die.
I don't really have a complete understanding of what that means, though. While many are disabled or in constant pain, I am blessed to be able to go about my day without pain, and so I have few reminders that what I have now will be dust before long.
After conversation about the passing of several young people we know, my girlfriend and I have come to the realization that we can no longer worry about dying an "early" death - no such thing exists. When it comes down to it, I have no reason to believe that I should live any longer than I already have.
Nathaniel Blake wrote in the Barometer several years ago that whether you believe in God or not, there is little basis for expecting to live to a certain age. Theists know they are not in control of their own lives and thus cannot presume to know how long they will or should live; similarly, atheists know that the natural world owes them no favors and can't be counted on to grant them any. "Life expectancy" (and its cousin "quality of life") are concepts that fall somewhere between oxymoron and vain hope.
If I were to die soon, it could not be called an "early" death anymore than my grandfather dying 50 years from now could be called a "late" death.
Indeed, the fact that no one is ever mourned for perishing too late shows that we already know our end and that its timing is beyond our control.
Since we know, then, that our lives are finite, one simple question arises: What are we to do with the days that we have?
Still, there is at least one thing that I know to be certain: I am going to die.
I don't really have a complete understanding of what that means, though. While many are disabled or in constant pain, I am blessed to be able to go about my day without pain, and so I have few reminders that what I have now will be dust before long.
After conversation about the passing of several young people we know, my girlfriend and I have come to the realization that we can no longer worry about dying an "early" death - no such thing exists. When it comes down to it, I have no reason to believe that I should live any longer than I already have.
Nathaniel Blake wrote in the Barometer several years ago that whether you believe in God or not, there is little basis for expecting to live to a certain age. Theists know they are not in control of their own lives and thus cannot presume to know how long they will or should live; similarly, atheists know that the natural world owes them no favors and can't be counted on to grant them any. "Life expectancy" (and its cousin "quality of life") are concepts that fall somewhere between oxymoron and vain hope.
If I were to die soon, it could not be called an "early" death anymore than my grandfather dying 50 years from now could be called a "late" death.
Indeed, the fact that no one is ever mourned for perishing too late shows that we already know our end and that its timing is beyond our control.
Since we know, then, that our lives are finite, one simple question arises: What are we to do with the days that we have?
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