The true essence of life

Two key events inspired this article.First,a former classmate of mine lost her dad recently....it turns out our dads are around the same age.Second,i recently had an eye-opening experience with a dying woman.
First though to my former class girl who must be absolutely devastated at the moment as most people are when we lose a loved one.Sure enough the condolences will fly in and the family will be inundated with fond thoughts of support from well-wishers.The bottom line though is the cruel finality of death ensures those loved ones would never again be those things they've always been to different people.The fact that people die everyday in every part of the world has failed to take the sting out of the event when it knocks on one's door.Our self-preservative instincts are the very traits that blind us to our own ultimate mortality.
Take the case of the victims of the Minnesota bridge collapse for example.Several of those folks have driven on that stretch of the bridge for as long as they can remember.For many it has turned into a conditioned reflex...something you do without thinking about it....like brushing your teeth or doing the dishes.The last thing on their minds would be the possibility of a bridge collapse as they tore through the traffic that fateful morning.
There have been several great thinkers of the past that have tried to explain different aspects of death.Some even practice augury and necromancy...some bloke was billed to appear on 96.5 kiss FM's hit show "valentine in the morning" last week who claims the ability to contact souls "on the other side".I missed that particular show...not that i was that keen on hearing what the guy had to say.These things are creepy at best.
Now to my short encounter with a young lady dying from cancer.She was surprisingly cool about the whole thing.My previous experience in psychiatry taught of 5 major stages of bereavement or the death process:denial,anger,bargaining,depression and acceptance.It was all too difficult to place what stage this lady was at...maybe acceptance.But if she did accept the fact she was going to die,it was her one remaining wish that got me thinking.
She is of Irish descent.All her life she had hoped to save enough to visit Ireland someday...that was even before her diagnosis.Now this was the same Ireland where I have spent the last 5 years travelling the countryside from one post to the other.This I had taken for granted.The beautiful green hills on the twisted Sligo roads,the carlow mountains and the calming plains of Dundalk and Drogheda.The farms in Letterkenny,St Patrick day parade in Dublin and the Jazz festival of Cork.If this woman had 2 weeks to enjoy these sights and sounds,she would be fulfilled.
I left all that behind and relocated to her country...in search of the proverbial greener pasture in pursuit of the american dream.Isn't it said that the grass is always greener on the other side?How true!
Did i say that she had one remaining wish??..well maybe not.She had another wish.She didn't want her dog to suffer.She was convinced no one would take care of the pet like she does,so she was going to have him put down before any trip to Ireland.For those that have expressed their outrage at my previous article titled "animal rights",I apologize.You may find that not everyone believes in this pet-worship craze so prevalent in western societies.But heck,if it makes my dying friend die happier,by all means!
OMC