Death and Dying

Our culture is slightly strange, in more than one way. We will all die. A time will come when none of us here today will be alive in the future. It's the way of life, the way that our world works. Things are born, they reproduce, they live, and then they die. And the cycle continues on and on.

Our culture, however, is appalled by this idea. All around is, marketting is aimed at running away from aging, running away from death and dying. The cosmetic industry is thriving on these values. "Take years away from your eyes with our rejuvenating cream!" Or the preoccupation with hair dying, or cosmetic surgery, or botox injections. Nevermind that, however about medical advancements? Thousands of dollars are spent on making us live longer. It's not that I mean to say this is a bad thing, but where do we draw the line? I feel as though at a certain point, it becomes futile. Dying people die, and to some degree, we are all dying people. We will all die. What is the hope of our medical research, what is it's ultimate goal - that we will someday defeat death? We can no more defeat death than we can stop earthquakes from happening.

Don't get me wrong - it's not that I want us to abandon health care and the preservation of life. Clearly, life is important and precious for many reasons. But I wish we weren't so scared and petrified of death and aging. It is something that happens, and I would much rather we embrace it as a culture, and see it as a part of life, as oppose to do all in our power to pretend it doesn't happen.