I Want To Die First Everyone has thought of their own mortality before, their unavoidable death, but what people tend to avoid and repress is the death of their loved ones. In Dr. Olberding’s essay “Other People Die” she brings to light the distinct difference between eastern and western philosophies on death. Dr. Olberding also argues that it is equally important to come to terms with your own mortality and the mortality of your loved ones. The early Confucians take on death largely differed with Zhuangzi’s through their lavish and long-term bereavement process.
Death is unavoidable. Without a doubt, every living thing will die. Whether we would, or no, those around us will eventually die of some reason. A loyal dog will soon sleep forever. A mother will eventually say her child’s name for the last time.
Roger Ebert takes the idea of death and makes it into a part of life and something not to scared of. “Life always has an unhappy ending, but you can have a lot of fun along the way, and everything doesn't have to be dripping in deep significance.” – Roger Ebert (Life Itself Memoir). As Roger Ebert deals with thyroid cancer he always held his head high and always thought of the best even though the outcome would not be the best. “To make others less happy is a crime.
Mark Twain said, “The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time”. Death is inevitable and no matter how hard we try; its presence is never fully forgotten. While examining both Mark Twain and William Cullen Bryant lives, we see that they exceled in their areas of expertise and enjoyed the lemons that were handed to them. They both made many statements about life, of which time cannot deteriorate their importance and value.
Death is the ultimate escape from the sufferings and hardships which define human nature. In “Sonny’s Blues,” Sonny states that “Nobody just takes it,”(Mays 113)
“Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live.” ~ Norman Cousins (Singh). Many fear death and will fight tooth and nail to elude it. There are some who embrace death and live life to the fullest.
First off, this is shown in the story in chapter 4, which states, “Yes. But there’s a better approach. To know you’re going to die, and to be prepared for it at any time. That’s better. That way you can actually be more involved in your life while you’re living (81).”
Pope Paul IV once said, “Somebody should tell us, right at the start of our lives, that we are dying. Then we might live life to the limit, every minute of everyday.” There will inevitably be times of loss, futility and alienation in human lives. It is the natural rhythm of human existence. Facing our own mortality or the transience of those who are close to us will always impel humans to examine their priorities, love for others and fundamental values and principles.
Many people like never really contemplate the idea of death, and will actively try to avoid it at all costs but eventually everyone dies. Many people look at death as an omniscient thing but the Bible looks at in a very different way, it says “ Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me”(Psalms 23:4). In numerous stories the characters are surrounded by death but they try their best to avoid it, and act like death was not even present. Death is a very real thing that happens in the world, and it has a very strong trait of inescapableness, shown by five different works. The five works are “As I Lay Dying” by William Faulkner, “Rosencrantz and
The suspense of the story shows the uncertainty of death throughout
Furthermore, nothing can change one’s fate, so obviously, death is something that cannot be avoided by anyone. Consequently, T’ao Ch’ien explains that since death is inexorable, one should not waste time pondering over one’s death in the future. To conclude, one should focus on activities currently occurring in one’s life rather than focus on the unavoidable death that is to
From the beginning, children are taught to fear the concept of death. Most people spend their lives fearing death, but it’s not death that they are afraid of. It is part of nature to die, and our minds know that, what scares most people is the thought of death before they have had time to accomplish what they want in life. In “When I Have Fears That I May Cease to Be,” John Keats put into words how people feel about dying before they have been successful in whatever mission they have set forth for themselves. His poem touches the reality of people’s feelings though imagery and figurative language.
For whatever reason, our society, and popular culture in general, seems preoccupied with death. Whether it’s watching a group of survivors fend off zombie hordes or it’s a rag-tag group of scientists busting ghosts, death is all around us. Even though this concept is something that humans have had to deal with for literally hundreds of thousands of years, the looming specter of the afterlife permeates everything we do. Even though we make plans for the future, we all know, in the back of our mind, that we could die at any moment. In fact, I could die ri-
Death is a part of life that everyone experiences in some way, whether it be their own or even being affected by the death of another. Many people dwell on the thought of their own death, wondering how or when it will occur. Then, it is even a massive question in society; what will happen to us when we die? In the play “Everyman,” with the main topic being death, it is only fitting that the main character was told that he is going to die. For some people, it may be difficult to speak about death, scary even.
When you hear the word death or you hear that someone has died today in the news or on the television I know a lot of people think “Man, I feel sorry for the family that they have to go through that.” or they thank god that it was not them or their family members.” Sadly though people try to push away death and push away the fact that everyone dies at one point in time. This is even truer when they witness their own family member in the hospital with a critical condition that the doctors cannot fix even with modern medicines on the doctor’s side. Another such time would be when a person’s family member is diagnosed with an incurable sickness that is fatal.
