All That Living

What happened to him in the end, should never happen to anyone.

You never want your name attached to that sentence.

We hear it said of people we know, and a small part of us shudders deep down somewhere. We never believe our day will come.

We wonder where those people have gone when they die. Forever is too bigger concept for our brains to comprehend. I mean, we know they are rotting in the ground, somewhere, or their ash is being blown about on the breeze, but never to be seen again.

'You get one shot at this life' never really sinks in for most of us, I guess, until we are facing down our own mortality, only then is it bought into crisp, sharp focus. 

"But there were things I was going to do, I have so much to see and learn yet. Rats!"

Even then, perhaps not. It might bring your life into sharp focus, but your death? Just because it is immanent, does that give you a greater understanding of death? Maybe, your life?

Except for those of us who sleep walk through their lives, oh, I don’t know? Who is to differentiate? But, then, I guess it doesn't really matter.

How would I go on without Sam? How would he go on without me? I guess, the bright side is that there is no choice. (if you can call that a bright side) You just have to.

All that living... 

You know, it all pretty much amounts to nothing in the end.

Your life. No matter how special you think you are?

How remembers Willie Jackson? He was born in 1880. He died in 1955. He worked as an accounts clerk at the bank in the CBD for 45 years. He married Stella. They had four kids, all boys. John, Charles, Robert, and Frank. Johnny, Charlie, Robby, and Frankie. Willie retired 10 years before he died. Stella died 4 days after Willie, apparently for no reason. The kids said she just couldn’t go on without her beloved Willie. It was a love story for the ages. Who remembers them?