leavetaking

a wise man once said that we all have a terminal disease, and it is called life. morbid, yes, but true.

you see, my grandfather died yesterday and brought this thought into sharp focus.

the inevitability of death is something that many of us haven't quite grasped yet. in fact, we are running away from it. today, there is a manic pursuit for immortality, often cloaked behind such terms as fitness, wonder diets, or beauty. this is not to say that it is wrong to wish for and work towards a long and healthy life, but shouldn't we also prepare for death?

prepare for death? probably not entirely your idea of planning - yes it might involve certain things like for example, the color of your coffin, to burn or not to burn, your epitaph, who are allowed to give you eulogies (such attention to detail!), and so on, but those are things you can write down anytime. meanwhile, we should realize that we are given ample time to really prepare for death - so long in fact that we call it a lifetime. four words: do something; do anything.

lolo may have not earned a degree but he lived a full life. i would always remember how he would always go up at three in the morning to start tending his farm and go home at dusk, tired but happy, to take a well-deserved shot of wine and talk to us in mixed Ilocano, Filipino and English.

i'm just saying, maybe we are pursuing the wrong thing, that we have a twisted idea of immortality. aesthetics and physical strength will eventually fade away; we're essentially just carbon-based beings and you need only look at how stars become blackholes to know that there is an end to this existence.

a lifetime - that is all we're given to do something. because there are no small actions or small lives for that matter - all stories are part of a big one; all stories are one. this is the immortality we talk about, but not seek. when we live to our highest potential - immortality shall ensue, and death shall not be an end, but a consummation.