oooo88oooo ([info]oooo88oooo) wrote,
@ 2005-04-19 12:47:00
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Death blooms
The day which we fear as our last is but the birthday of eternity.
~Seneca



The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.
~Mark Twain



This past Saturday, I received my first hospice client. For those of you who don't know, A Hospice client has decided to stop treatments and go home to spend the last few days/weeks/months of his or her life surrounded by friends and family. The focus of me, the hospice worker, is pain relief, making the client as comfortable as possible.

This man I am working with is in rough shape and can definitely go at any time, I will spare you the gory details (they make me queasy!). It is kind of sad working with a terminally ill client though it is comforting to know he is pain free and surrounded by his family.

There is so much I want to ask this client: Do you feel you are ready to go? What do you think awaits you on the other side? Do you believe in God? Etc. I don't though for I just met this guy and even talking is a burden for him.

Working with this client has reminded me of my own morality. Very soon, I will be that frail old man; very soon I will face death.

Sounds morbid, but it is actually kind of inspiring. In a race, the participant can run hard knowing there is a finish line. In life, one can 'live hard' knowing there is death. Running hard/living hard is painful, but knowing there is an end makes the pain more bearable.

Also, I am reminded that life is short. I waste so much time; I can't be doing that!

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It's all an illusion
(Anonymous)
2005-04-19 11:21 pm UTC (link)

In a true race,



  • how hard you run affects the outcome of the race.

  • how hard you run affects how quickly you reach the finish line

  • quitting means that you haven't finished


In life, assuming death is the finish line,



  • how hard you live life doesn't affect the outcome, since life isn't a race
    or competition

  • how hard you live life doesn't affect how quickly you reach the finish
    line (assuming healthy living for both cases)

  • quitting means that you have finished; suicide is a quick shortcut to the
    finish line


Life is not a race.


I used to be concerned a lot about "wasted time."  It doesn't slow you
down on your way to death, but it affects how quickly you get to the waypoints
on that road.


The real question is, what are your goals in life, your waypoints on the road 
to death?  Those are what you need to race to achieve.  If you hurry
from waypoint to waypoint, you can do so much in your life.  While the
economics of our society might want you to believe that idea, that mode of
thinking deprives you of a lot. 


It isn't a race to death.  It isn't a race to waypoints.  It comes
down to the simple idea of doing what makes you happy.  I'm not condoning
psychotropic drugs or living a life of leisure.  Or am I?  As long as
your increased happiness doesn't significantly decrease the happiness of those
around you, what harm is there? 


In a societal model, we would only need to optimize the summed happiness to
find an ideal solution.  Arguably there are some people who will be put out
and end up doing things that could make them unhappy.  But the net affect
is that more people are able to increase their happiness due to the efforts of
the unhappy person.  What's to keep the unhappy person from quitting, from
seeking out a different role in society to increase their personal happiness? 
The obvious solution is that society needs to endear the individual into seeing
their sacrifice as something that makes them happy only because their efforts
are benefiting others.  Simply foist self-sacrifice as a means to
happiness.


Sure, it may seem like a catch-22, but it works.

--

Aaron (http://nasadude.dnsalias.org/blog/)


(Reply to this) (Thread)
Re: It's all an illusion
(Anonymous)
2005-04-20 01:53 pm UTC (link)
This idea of living hard is one I've thought about too. Whenever I consider my own mortality and the fact that life is so short, I have a tendency to use phrases like 'live hard' as well.

However, I've come to realize there is balance. 'Living hard' is a difficult thing to define, but it's absolutely a thing that can wear you out. I used to think that to live hard as a Christian I had to be preaching the Gospel, leading a Bible study, praying, or reading my Bible in order to be doing what is expected of me.

But there are times to be still and know that God is God. I serve God chilling with you guys in the green room and enjoying the good fellowship he has given me in my friends. It's a good thing that serving God can also be enjoyable - imagine if it couldn't be! So, there are times to live hard, and times to chill, and fortunately, both of them (usually) are times well spent (provided you're not out killing people or screaming 'giggety giggety' over and over again), and I think I won't look back on either of them and call them a waste.

-Josh

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